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Penn National Forecasts Steel Rising in Early ‘13
BOARDMAN, Ohio – Steel could be rising during the first quarter of 2013, weather cooperating, on the Hollywood Slots at Mahoning Valley Race Course in Austintown, which Penn National Gaming Inc. plans to open in the first half of 2014, its president and chief operating officer says.
Timothy J. Wilmott told the more than 500 guests at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s annual Salute to Business breakfast meeting Thursday that he visited the 186-acre site for the race track and gaming center, the former Centerpointe Business Park off Route 46 in Austintown, the night before for the first time.
“It’s a terrific site. The access of the interstate is just tremendous,” he praised. “The site itself fits very well with our plans there and we couldn’t be more pleased with getting this project started.”
Two events in 2009 set the stage for the Austintown project, Wilmott noted: approval by Ohio voters that November of State Issue 3, which authorized four land-based casinos in the state, in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo; and then-Gov. Ted Strickland’s July executive order permitting video lottery terminals at Ohio’s seven racetracks. Penn National had a harness track in Toledo and the Beulah Park thoroughbred track outside Columbus so it made sense to consider relocating the tracks “to areas where they wouldn’t compete with land-based facilities and better serve markets that don’t have close proximity to casino entertainment,” he said.
Working with area state lawmakers and officials in Columbus, Penn National reached an agreement to pay $125 million to relocate each of the two tracks, the $50 million license fee and a $75 million relocation fee for each, he said. In return, Penn National gets a 50-mile buffer zone for 10 years permitting no new competition other than existing track locations. “We think it’s a very fair deal,” Wilmott said.
Penn National plans on a fall groundbreaking in Austintown. The company has submitted its applications to relocate the Toledo and Columbus tracks, approvals for which Wilmott expects to get in late fall, but likely will begin site work prior to that. The design and construction team has already started work on the site. “We have an agreement with the governor’s office on this relocation procedure that gives us great confidence that this is going to happen,” he said. “We don’t see any major risks for our project not going forward.”
Penn National has committed to making a capital investment of at least $125 million for the track and grandstand, which will include up to 1,500 VLTs, dining and entertainment venues. The project is expected to create 1,000 direct and indirect jobs, plus an additional 1,000 construction jobs to build the track and grandstand/gaming center.
“We’ve heard a lot recently about the news of the General Motors plant, the excitement around the shale and energy industry and also the national manufacturing institute that’s coming here,” Wilmott said. “We’re just pleased to be a part of this story and looking forward to working with the community and continue to expand the economic environment here in the Mahoning Valley.”
While Penn National is just beginning the development, design and construction process for the track, in the early part of next year the company will reach out into the community “to begin our selection and recruitment process,” and reach out to community and educational organizations “like we’ve done in Toledo and Columbus” to establish partnerships, he said. “We’ll be reaching out to the vendors in the local community to figure out how we can establish relationships for our goods and services once the operation comes up and running,” Wilmott said.
Among the positions that will require some kind of training are technicians to install and service the VLTs, he reported. “These are people who have to have an understanding of how a slot machine works from the microprocessor,” he said. Penn National wants to work with schools in the community as it develops jobs descriptions and put together training programs.
The company is working with three different community colleges in the Columbus area to train job candidates for culinary, slots and dealer positions, said Penn National spokesman Bob Tenenbaum. Sometimes schools are able to get state training funds that Penn National augments. In other cases, students may pay their own way but after a year as an employee the company reimburses them.
Prior to Wilmott’s keynote speech at the event, the chamber presented its annual Salute to Business awards. This year’s honorees were Tom Zidian, John Zidian Group of Companies, business professional of the year; Martin A. Abraham, dean of Youngstown State University’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics, business advocate of the year; Robert Berk, president, Berk Enterprises, Warren, entrepreneur of the year; Steve Sava, president, Perigree Business Technologies, Youngstown, small business person of the year; Janice E. Strasfeld, executive director, Youngstown Foundation; and Roland “Butch” Taylor Jr., business manager, United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 396, salute to labor achievement honoree.
The chamber’s audience also heard from Chuck Booth, president of the Canfield Fair board of directors, and Eric Wolford, head football coach at Youngstown State University. The fair, which started this week, runs through Labor Day, and the YSU Penguins kick off their 2012 season Saturday in Pittsburgh against the Panthers at Heinz Field.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.