THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 31, 1994 TAG: 9408310422
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
Newport News officials reacted coolly Tuesday to a group's announcement of its $75 million proposal to base two floating casinos on the downtown waterfront.
Others were skeptical that state lawmakers will even permit riverboat gambling in Virginia.
Aerie Hotels & Resorts of Illinois, and its partner Wildwood Gaming Corp. of Virginia, is among seven groups bidding for the approval of Newport News to develop a riverboat gaming facility there, said Paul Miller, the city's economic development director. The partners surprised city officials by trotting out their riverboat plan at a public meeting in Newport News Monday night.
``This was not our idea that they go public'' with the proposal, said John Munich, vice chairman of the Newport News Industrial Development Authority, which solicited the bids from interested companies for the city. ``I guess they're trying to attract attention to themselves as one of the seven vying for the city's approval. . . . I'm not sure if it merits all the attention.''
Neither Miller nor Munich would disclose the names of other bidders.
While riverboat gambling isn't legal in Virginia, Del. Jerrauld C. Jones, D-Norfolk, hopes to try to add the measure to the General Assembly's September special session on parole as a way to finance prison building. Jones has sponsored the bill two other times; it failed.
The announcement by Aerie Hotels - based in Villa Park, Ill. - calls attention to the plan and to riverboat gambling in general.
``I think they'll use this proposal as one more reason to pass the legislation,'' said Del. S. Vance Wilkins Jr., R-Amherst, the House minority leader and a vocal opponent of riverboat gambling.
Wilkins dismissed the prospects that Jones would introduce the riverboat legislation in the upcoming special session on parole. ``That won't have a chance,'' he said. The governor would ``lose half of the Republican caucus if he attaches it to the crime bill.''
Jones said he wouldn't submit the riverboat gambling bill unless he sees the political support necessary to pass it.
Aerie and Wildwood are the third group to announce plans for a riverboat gaming facility in Virginia. And they're not likely to be the last.
Numerous gambling firms have been stalking the state's byways and corridors of power for the past two years, getting options on waterfront real estate, lining up local partners and lobbying the General Assembly.
``This is just an illustration of the activity that could come if this thing were legal,'' said Thomas M. Mountjoy, president of Norfolk-based Recreational Concepts Inc., the general partner and operator of the Annabel Lee dinner cruise boat in Richmond.
In January, Mountjoy unveiled plans to convert the Annabel Lee dinner cruise boat in Richmond to gaming boat, develop a five-acre facility onshore and build another riverboat.
In March, Hollywood Casino Corp. said it had a three-year option to buy the Strawberry Banks site in Hampton next to I-64 at the end of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. The Dallas-based company proposes investing about $100 million to build gaming boats and an onshore entertainment complex there.
Norfolk-based Spirit Cruises Inc. has said it wants to develop riverboat gambling in Norfolk if it can resolve difficulties with its foreign ownership and find the right facility.
The other six bidders in Newport News have major plans as well, Miller said. ``Any one of them would a major impact on the city in terms of jobs, in terms of revenue, in terms of investment,'' he said.
And Mountjoy speculated that there may be two or three more elsewhere in the state that are this far along.
The proposal by Aerie/Wildwood, called the Victory Landing Casino Entertainment Complex, includes a 90,000-square-foot dockside center, an amphitheater, a performing arts center and a marina on 30 acres of downtown Newport News land that is unoccupied and owned by the city. The two-phase, $75 million project could eventually employ 1,000 people.
Officials of Aerie and Wildwood did not return telephone calls seeking comment Tuesday.
Aerie Hotels operates a riverboat gambling operation on the Mississippi River in Illinois.
Minority-owned Wildwood, incorporated in June, has three directors, Daniel W. Bythewood of Hempstead, N.Y.; Jonathan Stern of New York; and John R. Williams Jr. of Newport News, accoridng to the State Corporation Commission.
The Newport News development authority will interview the seven bidders in closed sessions on Sept. 9 and Sept. 16, Munich said.
The authority will review the bids and make recommendations to the City Council, which is likely to decide to support one or two of the bids, Miller said. The city's approval is no assurance that the bidder would get a license from the state.
``The state could do what they want, but hopefully they would listen to us because whoever is licensed here would have to deal with Newport News because the city owns the waterfront access,'' Miller said.
``We have a site that seems to be acceptable for this type of operation and we're looking for someone to represent the city if the legislation passes,'' Munich said.
The site, bounded mostly by West Avenue and 23rd and 26th streets in Newport News, is attractive because it is easily accessible to I-664 and centrally located between Virginia Beach and Williamsburg.
ILLUSTRATION: Color staff map
Proposed riverboat gambling facility
KEYWORDS: RIVERBOAT GAMBLING by CNB