Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City): Citizen Potawatomi Nation to launch temporary casino in Novemb

The Citizen Potawatomi Nation on Tuesday announced that gaming will begin in mid-November at a temporary facility next to the planned FireLake Grand Casino.

The temporary casino - a Sprung Instant Structure - will be built near the Dale exit on Interstate 40.

We will erect a temporary facility with 350 machines in 10,000 square feet of space, said John 'Rocky' Barrett, Citizen Potawatomi Nation chairman. We have decided to call it Baby Grand.

The FireLake Grand will open in early 2006, tribe officials said.

The project began Monday and is being erected in a portion of the FireLake Grand Casino parking lot, due east of the permanent casino building. After FireLake Grand is opened, the Sprung Structures building will be used for other Citizen Potawatomi purposes and its foundation will be leveled, officials said.

FireLake Grand will have 153,000 square feet on three levels and will feature three restaurants and a 30,000-square-foot entertainment venue. Construction on a 122-room hotel at the site will follow the completion of FireLake Grand. The site will include a truck plaza with a convenience store.

Barrett said the Baby Grand concept will also allow the Citizen Potawatomi Nation to assist Hurricane Katrina victims with jobs at the gaming venue several weeks before FireLake Grand will open. The hurricane destroyed several casinos and casino-hotel combinations along the Gulf Coast in Mississippi and Louisiana.

As many as 20,000 or more people trained in a variety of hospitality industry disciplines are now without a place to put their skills to productive use, Barrett said. Opening earlier, on a smaller scale, means the Citizen Potawatomi Nation can provide a place for some of them to return to work.

The Baby Grand facility is being built by Sprung Instant Structures of Calgary, Alberta, which has constructed buildings at several locations, including the Trump Casino at Buffington Harbor, Ind.; the Disaster Recovery Site at Ground Zero in New York City; the Wright Brothers Centennial Museum in Kill Devil Hills, N.C.; the Polar Air Cargo Sort Facility in Holland; the U.S. Army's Bob Hope Dining Facility in Baghdad, Iraq; and the K Club Golf Clubhouse in Kildare, Ireland.