Instead, the developer has preferred to pay $13 million in fines, the penalty for missing 10 deadlines in a row.<\/p>\n
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Kansas Entertainment LLC promised a hotel tower with at least 200 rooms under its 2009 agreement with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City (WyCo & KCK). Kansas Entertainment LLC is a joint venture between Penn and International Speedway Corp., now part of NASCAR.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In return, the project received STAR bonds from WyCo & KCK. This is a special financing tool that Kansas municipalities can issue for the development of major commercial, entertainment, and tourism projects.<\/p>\n
Delays and Fines<\/h2>\n Under the agreement, construction on the hotel would begin within the second anniversary of the casino\u2019s opening (February 2014). If this did not occur, Kansas Entertainment LLC would pay 1% of the casino’s annual net gaming revenues to WyCo & KCK until the work began, per the agreement.<\/p>\n
Kansas Entertainment LLC initially said it hoped to break ground on the hotel in October 2014, but that was later revised to 2015, pending the results of an economic study.<\/strong><\/p>\nLater that year, the developer announced it would postpone the hotel project, citing \u201csoft economic conditions in the region, especially in the hotel market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Penn Plans Continue\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\nPenn has said it monitors area occupancy rates and new hotel developments in the region and insists it \u201ccontinues to explore various opportunities to build a hotel adjacent to Hollywood Casino.\u201d<\/p>\n
“As part of that evaluation, we consider the existing infrastructure and occupancy rates of neighboring and nearby hotels, as well as the marketing partnerships we have developed with these businesses over the years,” Jeff Morris, Penn’s vice president for public affairs and government relations, told The Kansas City Business Journal<\/em> last year.<\/p>\nWe are proud of the relationships we have built in Wyandotte County since we opened in 2012, and look forward to building upon our success here for years to come,”<\/strong> he added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nFor now, though, Kansas Entertainment LLC is content to keep paying the fines, something Wyandotte County Administrator David Johnston says they may be doing for some time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a lot of people had this misconception it was a 10-year window. No, this goes on, and it will stop only if they build,\u201d Johnson told the TV station Fox 4<\/em> this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Penn Entertainment was granted permission to develop what became its Hollywood Casino at NASCAR\u2019s Kansas Speedway, it also pledged to build an adjacent hotel within two years. But 10 years and counting from that deadline, no such hotel has materialized. Instead, the developer has preferred to pay $13 million in fines, the penalty for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":309410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,18,86430,86438],"tags":[89740,82389,89742,82542,82182,89741],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway Misses 10th Deadline for Hotel Build<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n