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Penn National ‘Tops Off’ Austintown Racino Structure
AUSTINTOWN, Ohio -- The incoming general manager of the new Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course praises contractors for their work to put the physical structure of the racino in place, and says it’s time for the operations team to do the same.
Mike Galle, named two weeks ago to oversee the racino under construction at the Route 46 site, joined construction crews and local officials at the project site Tuesday for a “topping out” ceremony. During the event, ironworkers hoisted the final steel beam, along with the traditional American flag and evergreen tree, atop the structure by crane.
Executives with Penn National Gaming Inc., which is developing the $125 million thoroughbred track and video lottery terminal, ironworkers and guests signed the beam before it was lifted to the building’s top.
“The ironworkers, they laid down the steel, they laid down the structure and they really laid down the foundation here at Hollywood Mahoning Valley,” Galle said. “Now it’s up to the operations team to start their structure, lay down their foundation.” The incoming general manager, who will take over Jan. 1, joined Dave Van Dusen, project superintendent with Turner Construction, to provide brief remarks before to the final beam being lifted.
Penn National’s decision to go with union contractors is paying off in terms of both the schedule and safety, Van Dusen remarked. “We obviously want to give a special thanks to Kelley Steel Erectors and to the unions of Youngstown Local 207 Ironworkers,” he said. “Those are the guys that delivered this building a week or two ahead of schedule, no safety accidents and, in spite of the last two weeks – there’s been a lot of mud [and] we even had a little bit of snowflakes. That makes it awfully difficult to work up on the steel. These guys did it.”
“Our guys are skilled and well trained. We run them through the apprenticeship for four years in steel erection and safety classes,” said Rick Ellis, business manager for Local 207. “This job was scheduled for 12 weeks. We’re in our seventh week and it’ll probably be done a couple weeks ahead of time.”
Work on the structure is about 20% done, Van Dusen estimated. The goal is to get the building enclosed by the end of the year, a process helped by the use of exterior skin premade offsite, which also improves the quality. “If we do that, we’ll be in good shape,” he said. “If you have it enclosed, that will take the weather out of the equation. Rain doesn’t shut you down. Bad weather doesn’t shut you down.”
Contractors are targeting a mid-August completion for the structure.
“It’s astonishing how quickly they got this thing put up. That’s a testament to the work of the ironworkers and the local labor unions and the workforce here in the Mahoning Valley that they’re able to do such great work” and to do it quickly, said Austintown Township Trustee Jim Davis. “This is just exciting. … I really got goose bumps signing the beam.”
Galle, employed with the Wyomissing, Pa.-based gaming company since 1995, has been assistant general manager of Hollywood Casino Toledo since June 2011. He said his progression through Penn National shows the company’s commitment to internal talent development. Recruiting efforts for the new racino should begin in the late first quarter or early second quarter of 2014, he said.
“What we’re looking for is somebody who can deliver ‘wow’ service,” he said. “Great customer service, great personality, that’s really what we’re looking for and we will train the skills if we have somebody with a great personality,” Galle said. Once he comes onto the job in January, he said, he will reach out to local colleges and universities to see if Penn National can build partnerships for training.
Copyright 2013 by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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