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Sunday, October 30, 2005
Bangor slots site chosen
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BANGOR — Penn National Gaming Inc., which plans to open its temporary slot machine parlor Friday, has apparently lined up a location for a permanent facility. An agreement is in the works for Penn National to set up shop on a site now occupied by two hotels across Main Street from Bass Park, city officials said on Friday. The Holiday Inn-Civic Center and the Main Street Inn would be torn down and replaced by the new facility, due to open in the third quarter of 2007. The project is expected to cost $71 million. "We hope to have the whole thing wrapped up by Monday," said Frank Farrington, chairman of the City Council. A special meeting of the council was scheduled for noon Monday to consider the deal. To comply with the state's slot machine law, Penn National would buy the site and convey it to the city, which would then lease it back to the company. That same arrangement was used by Penn National to develop its temporary facility in the former Miller's Restaurant. The hotels are among the few commercially zoned properties that are both within the allowed 2,000-foot radius of Bangor Raceway and large enough to accommodate the proposed 1,500- square-foot facility. Penn National spokesman Eric Schippers confirmed in April that negotiations were under way with the Holiday Inn owner. While the initial plan was to build the complex at Bass Park, Penn National complied with a request from the city to look at other options in an effort to minimize disruption of Bass Park events such as the Bangor State Fair and annual basketball tournaments. The temporary slots facility, called Hollywood Slots at Bangor, will feature 475 slot machines, the first to be located in Maine. The plan is to replace that facility with a larger, permanent complex that would house up to 1,500 machines.
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