Earlier this year, The Commercial covered the topping out ceremony at what was well on its way to being the events center at Saracen Casino Resort. Next up on the construction schedule would be the long-awaited hotel, which, Saracen officials said, would be ready in 18 months or so.
That would put the first customer’s arrival toward the end of next year. And almost a half-year after that topping out ceremony, that 18-month deadline is still holding firm, according to a news release sent out earlier this week by casino officials.
Isn’t it nice, for a change, to have something go as planned and on schedule in our fair city? So many city inspired projects still sit idle, the dust covering the news releases of failed promises.
That is especially so with the hotel to replace the now-being-torn-down Plaza Hotel at the Pine Bluff Convention Center. It is late getting started, way over budget in terms of how much money was thought to be needed, enough so that city leaders who promised no tax dollars would be used in the new construction had to go back on their words and take millions in tax dollars for the project — and recently had to borrow millions more to make it all happen.
And at the end of the day, the hotel, located near some but not a lot of attractions, will need to operate at a high volume to succeed. There would appear to be better odds of success at some of the tables at Saracen than that happening without a hitch.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
But we digress.
The casino hotel was part of the promise as Saracen set out years ago to install a casino in Pine Bluff. The fact that nothing happened for many months created anxiety for many in Pine Bluff. It also created a sore spot for casino folks who were trying to be financially smart about when to kick off the work, but who knew people were starting to question whether the construction would ever start.
There was covid and then the supply chain issues brought on by covid. Chief among them for a project of such size was the huge increase in the cost of steel and concrete. And the cost of money was high, meaning the interest rates to borrow money for the projects were exorbitant.
But with patience and effort, all that eased. The casino’s successful bottom line that was apparent month after month was enough to get its credit ratings upgrade by outfits that judge how risky an operation is — meaning the interest rates Saracen could attract for the hotel and event center construction fell dramatically even if higher material prices appear to be here to stay or are even rising.
So here we are. Enormous cranes, rarely seen in Pine Bluff, are in the air, as the steel rises and the landscape takes on a new look. In all, the hotel is headed for 13 floors, two more than the Simmons Bank building downtown. And when it’s all done, there will be some 320 rooms and an events center that will seat as many as 1,600 people.
And all without any tax dollars.