Norfolk On line casino Transferring Ahead After Metropolis Agrees to Lend Stadium Lot
The delayed Norfolk on line casino mission is lastly shifting ahead. That’s after builders and native officers reached a deal permitting the car parking zone on the metropolis’s Harbor Park minor league baseball stadium to be utilized throughout development of the gaming resort.
An aerial rendering of the envisioned HeadWaters Resort & On line casino in Norfolk. The Virginia on line casino growth has moved slowly since being approved by native voters in November 2022. (Picture: Pamunkey Indian Tribe)
The Pamunkey Indian Tribe, one among seven federally acknowledged tribes in Virginia, is working with billionaire tribal gaming veteran Jon Yarbrough to construct a $500 million on line casino resort on the banks of the Elizabeth River. Greater than two years after native voters in Norfolk signed off on the on line casino blueprint referred to as HeadWaters Resort & On line casino, little progress has been made.
Nevertheless, the chances of HeadWaters quickly breaking floor have shortened. That’s after the Norfolk Metropolis Council agreed to permit Harbor Park’s parking tons to function staging areas for development of a brief on line casino and the everlasting resort. The lease settlement resolves a serious hurdle for the tribe and Yarbrough in figuring out the place to stage the mission’s development tools and provides.
Location Concern Addressed
Virginia’s gaming regulation permits on line casino builders to open non permanent gaming services throughout development of the everlasting resorts. The interim casinos are solely permissible on the identical mailing tackle as the place their everlasting casinos will someday function.
For the land-strapped HeadWaters mission, which is to be constructed on 13.5 acres of vacant land adjoining to Harbor Park between the Elizabeth River and Park Avenue, the authorized situation threatened the builders’ skill to open an interim on line casino amid a development zone.
HeadWaters initially deliberate to open its non permanent on line casino inside Harbor Park in what was, earlier than the pandemic, a restaurant and health heart. After authorized issues had been raised that the baseball park is positioned at 150 Park Avenue and HeadWaters’ everlasting tackle will likely be 200 Park Avenue, builders folded on these plans.
The tribe and Yarbrough have since opted to construct a brief construction closest to Park Avenue at Interstate 264 for the interim on line casino. The town has provisionally agreed to promote the 13.5 acres of land, which is primarily paved parking tons serving the baseball park, to HeadWaters as soon as its full resort plan is finalized and the Virginia Lottery Board approves the event.
Within the meantime, the Norfolk Metropolis Council needed to comply with lease Harbor Park’s parking tons to the on line casino builders for the non permanent facility. The provisional gaming area is vital to the mission’s general growth.
Short-term Particulars Slim
HeadWaters hasn’t revealed many specifics about its upcoming non permanent on line casino. Undertaking spokesperson Jay Smith advised On line casino.org lately that each slot machines and desk video games will likely be provided. Gaining the town’s approval for the interim area, nevertheless, is a serious growth.
Pursuant to the route we acquired from Metropolis Council in July, the tribe dedicated to delivering a web site plan on the non permanent on line casino. The tribe is now working diligently with the town on the everlasting web site plan and land conveyance, which in flip will permit us to start development,” Smith defined.
“The tribe is happy and able to begin constructing,” Smith concluded.
