Northfield Park is starting construction on its new Hard Rock-themed racino and expects to open late this year.
“Everything is moving forward now,” harness track owner Brock Milstein said Wednesday. “All the financing is in place ... We’re going to start to see some serious construction here in the next couple of weeks.”
Northfield Park and Hard Rock International are partnering on a $250 million to $300 million project to build a gambling and entertainment complex on track property in Northfield.
The 200,000-square-foot building will be filled with 2,300 to 2,500 slots-like video lottery terminals, a 250-seat comedy club, steakhouse, buffet, music venue with 1,800 to 1,900 seats, and Hard Rock Cafe.
Northfield Park released a new artist’s rendering of the facility Wednesday. It shows a glitzy Las Vegas-style exterior with large video screens and a giant Hard Rock guitar.
An official groundbreaking ceremony will be held in the spring. Milstein said he hopes the facility will open in late fall or winter.
“We are so excited to bring this development to the area and to the state,” he said.
Hard Rock, based in Orlando, operates 174 venues in 53 countries, including 16 hotel/casinos. Northfield is joining a Hard Rock family that includes cafes and casinos in Las Vegas, Toronto, Beijing, Paris, London and Singapore.
Northfield Park must receive a VLT license from the Ohio Lottery Commission before opening. That application will be filed within the next few weeks, Milstein said.
A $10 million fee is due with the application. Another $15 million is due when the video slots are turned on, and $25 million at the start of the second year in business.
Northfield Park is the only horse track in Ohio that has yet to file for its license. The only racino now operating in the state is Scioto Downs in Columbus, although Thistledown in North Randall and Lebanon Raceway in Lebanon have been granted conditional licenses so they can prepare to open, a lottery spokeswoman said.
The Hard Rock racino will put together its management team over the next several months and then sometime over the summer begin the process of hiring the 700 to 900 workers needed to run the operation, Milstein said.
Meanwhile, Thistledown has started hiring about 600 workers — positions ranging from VLT technicians to food/beverage servers to managers. The jobs can be found at www.caesarscareers.com.
Caesars Entertainment is managing both Thistledown and the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, the full casino in downtown Cleveland.
“It’s going to be a great environment to work in,” spokeswoman Christina Karas said about Thistledown. “We have a lot of open positions there and we need talented people.”
The racetrack is undergoing a major renovation now for the 1,150 VLTs, restaurants and other amenities being added. The new facility is expected to open this spring. A specific date hasn’t been announced.
By the time the Hard Rock racino opens, it will be the third major gambling venue in Northeast Ohio.
Milstein said the Hard Rock racino, Thistledown racino and Horseshoe Casino should be able to co-exist and he sees no problem with being the last to open in the region.
“We believe that the market is big enough for the three of us,” he said.
Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com.