The Cowlitz Indian Tribe has secured financing from the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority for construction of a $550 million casino-resort on its 152-acre reservation near La Center.
The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, an instrument of the Connecticut-based Mohegan Tribe of Indians, announced Monday it had closed the deal with the Cowlitz Trial Gaming Authority, an entity owned by the Cowlitz Indian Tribe.
“We are very pleased to announce that the CTGA has closed on its casino construction financing,” Robert J. Soper, president and CEO of the gaming authority, stated in a press release. “This is a monumental step both for the Cowlitz Tribe and for the Authority as developer and manager, as we can now proceed with the development of what we believe will be the finest and most successful resort in the Pacific Northwest.”
The casino is expected to be open to the public in mid-2017, Soper said.
The Mohegan Tribe is a federally recognized tribe with a 595-acre reservation in southeast Connecticut. It owns the Mohegan Sun casino complex in Connecticut and the Mohegan Sun Pocono casino in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
The Cowlitz Tribal Gaming Authority has entered into a development agreement and management agreement with Salishan-Mohegan LLC, a subsidiary of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, to develop and manage the casino.
Neither Cowlitz Tribe Chairman Bill Iyall nor Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority representatives could be reached for comment Tuesday.
In October, Moody’s Investor Service assigned a B3 Corporate Family Rating to the Cowlitz Gaming Authority’s $485 million financing for its casino. Bonds rated B are considered speculative and subject to high credit risk, according to Moody’s.
The $510 million Cowlitz casino-resort will be built in four phases, the first of which will include a new Interstate 5 interchange at Exit 16 and a casino-resort with a 67,000-square-foot gaming area, along with restaurants, a showroom and support areas. When construction is done, the project will feature 152,000 square feet of gaming, 424 hotel rooms, restaurants, showrooms, tribal administration offices, retail, restaurants and a gas station.
The federal government officially recognized the Cowlitz Indian Tribe in 2000, and in 2010, the Bureau of Indian Affairs approved an application to take 152 acres of land into trust for a new Cowlitz reservation. That prompted several groups that don’t want a casino built to sue the Cowlitz because they question the Cowlitz peoples’ ties to the area and believe the tribe is only interested in the property for its proximity to Portland, just 16 miles to the south.
The group is appealing District Court Judge Barbara J. Rothstein’s decision in December 2014 to dismiss the lawsuit. The plaintiffs in the case include the city of Vancouver, Clark County, the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, Citizens Against Reservation Shopping — a group that includes Columbian Publisher Scott Campbell — and the owners and operators of La Center’s cardrooms. They did not request an injunction to block the casino’s construction.
“There’s nothing stopping this from proceeding, just that they’re doing this in the face of the possibility that gaming might not be allowed on that property,” Vancouver Assistant City Attorney Brent Boger said Tuesday. “There’s a serious chance the appeal will be successful.”
