NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — After years of unexplained delays, the development team looking to bring a resort-style casino to Norfolk has gone through a major shake up.
Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming, owner of the famed Freemont Street Hotel & Casino and one of the largest gaming operators in the country, is now taking the lead on efforts to bring gambling next to Harbor Park in Norfolk, according to city documents.
Boyd, which owns 28 gaming entertainment properties in 10 states and netted $3.7 billion last year, is set to take majority ownership in Golden Eagle Consulting II, LLC, with the Pamunkey Indian Tribe having a 20% interest.
Initially, Golden Eagle Consulting II was controlled by Tennessee billionaire Jon Yarbrough, whose mailing address is not found on a draft amendment of the casino development agreement.
The change comes as the city and tribe face a looming deadline to receive a casino license for casino gaming before state law voids a 2020 referendum.
“The Pamunkey Indian Tribe has been working to develop a casino resort in Norfolk for the last several years,” David Strow, vice president of corporate communications, said in a statement speaking for both Boyd and the King William County based Pamunkey Indian Tribe. “Boyd Gaming has started the process required to help the Tribe bring its vision to fruition, in a way that will deliver meaningful benefits for the Tribe, the City of Norfolk and the Commonwealth of Virginia. We do not have any further comment at this time.”
Norfolk City Council is expected to vote on an ordinance on the amended and restated option to purchase agreement, and development agreement, at its September 10 meeting, the city announced Wednesday.
Wednesday Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander said he is “hopeful” the new team will provide results.
“Bringing in Boyd — someone with the ability and the wherewithal and experience and more importantly the financial strength to build a world-class casino resort hotel — is exactly what we need,” Alexander said.
The proposal to build a resort casino between Harbor Park and the Norfolk Amtrak station was first revealed in December 2018.
The tribe, in partnership with Tennessee billionaire Jon Yarbrough, said it would make a $500 million investment with 65,000 square feet of gaming floor, a variety of restaurants that include a steak and seafood restaurant, a hotel with a raised amenity deck with a pool, spa and fitness center, a ballroom, meeting spaces and parking garage.
However, frustration has grown after years of renderings have come and gone. Meanwhile a casino roughly seven miles away in Portsmouth, had exceeded its initial revenue projections.
“We had a development agreement and they never lived up to it,” Alexander said.
Specifically, Alexander noted how for the first time in the process he has seen a construction schedule.
