Slidell On line casino Website Voters Rejected Final Fall Now an Eyesore
The Slidell, Louisiana, on line casino website the place a California gaming operator hoped to construct a brand new resort has turn into an eyesore for the area people.
Land in Slidell, La., the place a on line casino was proposed has turn into overgrown with tall fescue. Native companies need the on line casino firm that owns the 100-acre tract to determine what it’s going to do with the undeveloped property. (Picture: WDSU)
Peninsula Pacific Leisure (P2E) completely closed its DiamondJacks On line casino in Bossier Metropolis, La. amid the pandemic. The corporate stated Bossier Metropolis had turn into an unattractive market due to an excessive amount of competitors. P2E sought state approval to relocate its Louisiana gaming license to Slidell.
However earlier than P2E’s proposed $325 million challenge referred to as Camellia Bay Resort may break floor, native voters in St. Tammany Parish wanted to lend their approval. That backing by no means got here, as 63% of voters rejected the on line casino poll query final November.
P2E subsequently bought most of its property to Kentucky-based Churchill Downs Inc. However Churchill had no real interest in reopening DiamondJacks, and the shuttered property was later bought on a budget to Mississippi-headquartered Basis Gaming.
Churchill additionally had no real interest in shopping for P2E’s land in Slidell. In consequence, the Slidell property stays vacant and its future unknown.
Blind Tiger Doesn’t Like What It Sees
P2E had hoped to deliver a premier on line casino resort to the Lakeshore Marina off Interstate 10 north of New Orleans throughout Lake Pontchartrain. The on line casino was to be constructed close to The Blind Tiger restaurant.
The failed on line casino property has since been left unkept. Native businesspeople say the sprawling 100-acre website has turn into overgrown with grass and weeds.
Parish officers say they’ve obtained quite a few complaints concerning the grass, which is as excessive as 5 ft in some areas. Thomas Genin, who owns The Blind Tiger, advised WDSU this week that P2E’s 2021 land purchase in Slidell included the marina.
Genin defined that P2E evicted boat lessees earlier this yr after which fenced off the marina. That has resulted in a considerable decline in restaurant site visitors for The Blind Tiger.
“We would like something to occur,” Genin stated of some kind of repairs of the vacant land and/or reopening of the marina.
Parish officers, nevertheless, say they’re restricted in what they will require of the on line casino firm and its upkeep of the property.
“We’re going to ship our code enforcement officers again on the market to see what we are able to do to assist,” defined Michael Vinsanau, a former WDSU reporter who’s now the spokesperson for the parish.
Future Unknown
Peninsula Pacific purchased the Lakeshore Marina and its 100 acres for about $14 million in 2021. The sellers had been a consortium of banks and firms that had maintained management over the property.
Native officers hope the on line casino plan, although it failed, will deliver enthusiasm to the area for one more improvement.
I wish to see one thing just like the on line casino however with out the on line casino. A resort, a spot to place boats, eating places,” St. Tammany Parish Councilor Jake Airey just lately advised the New Orleans Advocate.
Slidell and St. Tammany missed out on many potential financial advantages by rejecting Camellia Bay. Together with building and everlasting jobs, plus annual tax income from the resort’s gaming and common operations, P2E pledged to donate $5 million to assist assemble a long-delayed Slidell ring levee. The corporate had additionally dedicated $35 million to construct a neighborhood athletics heart on the marina.
Each tasks had been depending on a profitable on line casino referendum.
