The public unveiling is slated for 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at the site of the temporary Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino, which opened on July 3. Seneca Gaming officials are mum about the final design.
"We expect to capture the public's attention with an ambitious plan," said Phil Pantano, Seneca Gaming spokesman. "We hope this will be viewed as a signature landmark in downtown Buffalo."
The unveiling comes almost two years to the day that Seneca Gaming acquired a nine-acre parcel along South Park Avenue as the site for the casino and one year to the day that city officials agreed to deed a portion of Fulton Street to the gaming operations arm of the Seneca Nation of Indians. Fulton Street runs through the heart of the sovereign territory and was considered essential for the project's design.
The casino portion is expected to have at least a $125 million development price tag with the gaming venue serving as home for up to 2,000 slot machines and 50 table games. Seneca Buffalo Creek is the third of three casinos the state allowed the Seneca Nation to operate in Western New York under the terms of a 2002 compact. The others are in Niagara Falls and Salamanca.
It remains the subject of a federal lawsuit that anti-casino advocates have filed against U.S. officials. The lawsuit does not name the Seneca Gaming Corp. Construction is expected to start later this year and the new casino will likely open in 2009.
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