Pinnacle Entertainment Breaks Ground, Announces Name for St. Louis County Casino Resort
LAS VEGAS, Nov. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc.
(NYSE: PNK) broke ground today on its casino, hotel and entertainment district
in the St. Louis County community of Lemay. The Company's $375 million
development is one of the most ambitious developments in the St. Louis area
and will create a multi-faceted destination resort in St. Louis County.
Pinnacle's site straddles the frontier between the County and the City of
St. Louis. Overlooking the Mississippi River, the site rests just south of
the confluence of the Mississippi and the River des Peres in one of the most
densely populated parts of the St. Louis region. St. Louis is the nation's
18th largest metropolitan area.
The project will open in 2008 and will include a large casino with
3,000 slot machines and 60 table games, a 100-room hotel, full-service spa,
restaurants, a boutique bowling alley, a multiplex movie theatre, an indoor
ice rink, a public park with athletic fields and a hatch-shell music and
entertainment venue. A later phase is planned to include an approximately
280,000-square-foot retail center. Pinnacle will also build a multi-million
dollar community center in Lemay.
The project is estimated to create 7,000 jobs: 1,000 construction jobs,
2,000 permanent jobs, and an additional 4,000 ancillary service jobs in the
region.
The company also announced the name of the St. Louis County project: River
City(SM) Casino & Hotel. The name reflects the excitement that the property
will entail and the location astride two important and historical rivers.
"We are very excited to begin work on River City," said Daniel R. Lee,
Chairman and CEO of Pinnacle Entertainment. "This project will be an
important part of our company in the years to come. It will truly be a
destination, a city unto itself, offering a wider array of entertainment
amenities than any other single venue in the region.
"The community of Lemay has been enthusiastic about our project from the
beginning of the selection process here in Missouri, and we will build
something of which they, and all of St. Louis, can be proud," Lee said.
St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley noted the importance of the
project to the Lemay area, and the broader St. Louis economy.
"Pinnacle's River City project will truly be a unique destination in our
region and will create jobs and vital economic activity in Lemay," Dooley
said. "More than that, the birth of River City means the environmental
clean-up of a long-abandoned industrial site, and the creation of a new and
long-needed road in the County, connecting Interstate 55 with the South
Broadway corridor which will spur even more economic development in both the
County and City of St. Louis.
"The River City groundbreaking signals a new day for Lemay and South
County, and we are very pleased to have Pinnacle Entertainment as the County's
newest corporate neighbor," Dooley said.
Bergman, Walls & Associates, Ltd. of Las Vegas leads the design team,
which has created a New Age authentic design for River City, reflective of the
overall look of a Missouri riverboat town at the peak of the steamboat trade
on the Mississippi River -- historical, yet new. It is reminiscent of both
the original part of St. Louis, which was where the famed Arch now stands, and
the historical 1904 World's Fair Louisiana Purchase Exposition, held in what
is today Forest Park.
Pinnacle was selected for two St. Louis-area projects in early 2004 by the
City and County of St. Louis, and then by the Missouri Gaming Commission in
competitive bid processes that included applications from several gaming
companies. In addition to the River City project, the Company is building a
$400 million casino, luxury hotel and spa in downtown St. Louis, which broke
ground in September 2005 and will open in 2007.
About Pinnacle Entertainment
Pinnacle Entertainment owns and operates casinos in Nevada, Louisiana,
Indiana and Argentina, owns a hotel in Missouri, receives lease income from
two card club casinos in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and owns a casino
site and has significant insurance claims related to a casino previously
operated in Biloxi, Mississippi, which was largely damaged by Hurricane
Katrina. The Company opened a major casino resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana
in May 2005 and a new casino in Neuquen, Argentina in July 2005. Pinnacle has
also been selected for two casino development projects in the St. Louis,
Missouri area. The casino operations in St. Louis are dependent upon final
approval by the Missouri Gaming Commission.
All statements included in this press release, other than historical
information or statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
These forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the Company's
new development opportunities, anticipated construction schedules and costs,
and anticipated job creation are based on management's current expectations
and are subject to risks, uncertainties and changes in circumstances that
could significantly affect future results. Accordingly, Pinnacle
Entertainment cautions that the forward-looking statements contained herein
are qualified by important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those reflected by such statements. Such factors include, but
are not limited to, (a) construction-related factors that could prevent the
Company from completing its construction and development projects within
budget and on time; (b) having adequate funding and cash flows to complete its
construction projects; (c) the risk that the proposed St. Louis projects and
other capital intensive projects could strain the Company's financial
resources; (d) the results of the damage from Hurricane Katrina and insurance
proceeds available to the Company; and (e) other risks, including those as may
be detailed from time to time in Pinnacle Entertainment's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). For more information on the
potential factors that could affect the Company's financial results and
business, review the Company's filings with the SEC, including its Annual
Report on Form 10-K, its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and its Current
Reports on Form 8-K.
For further information
At the Company - (702) 784-7777:
Dan Lee, Chairman & CEO
Wade Hundley, President
Steve Capp, CFO
Chris Plant or Lewis Fanger, Investor Relations
SOURCE Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc.