Delaware Tribe, Gillmann Group Start Land Into Trust Application
With Bureau of Indian Affairs
Environmental Study, Economic Impact Process Underway
BONNER SPRINGS, Kan., April 22 /PRNewswire/ --
The Delaware Tribe and Las
Vegas-based The Gillmann Group, who are proposing to develop and manage a $225
million destination resort and casino in Bonner Springs adjacent to the Kansas
Speedway, have started work on their land into trust application with the
Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C.
Placing the land into trust for the Delaware Tribe by the BIA is one of the
major elements in the approval process required to build the resort/casino.
The Delaware Tribe, headquartered in Bartlesville, Okla., has 557 tribal
members living in the State of Kansas. Members of the tribe were the early
founders of the City of Bonner Springs.
The environmental study for the 78.4-acre land parcel along Speedway Blvd.,
south of State Ave., began this week and is the first step in placing the land
into trust for the tribe. The Gillmann Group, which will develop and manage
the resort/casino for the tribe, finalized the purchase of the land parcel in
mid-March. In addition to the environmental study, the land into trust
application also requires economic impact studies, revenue distribution and
projection reports as well as employment and payroll projections.
A feasibility study prepared by KlasRobinson Q.E.D., one of the country's
foremost specialists in comprehensive market research for hospitality and
casino projects, said the Delaware/Gillmann project could generate more than
$260 million in annual gaming revenue in its first full year of operation. It
would be the first Kansas tribal resort/casino that would contribute revenue to
the State of Kansas and to local governments. The Delaware Tribe is proposing
to share more than $11 million in the first year with local governments and the
state would receive more than $28 million that first year. The resort/casino
will provide 2,000 new jobs with a projected payroll over $60 million annually
and will generate over $100 million in annual local spending.
"Our resort and casino will be a world-class tourist destination and an
economic engine for Bonner Springs, Wyandotte County and the State of Kansas.
We have the best location and plan for a destination center in Kansas and are
moving forward with our land into trust application. We also have the land
purchased and financing for the project is in place," said Fred Gillmann, chief
executive officer of The Gillmann Group.
Gillmann also said that his company and the Delaware Tribe have cooperated
fully with the Unified Government on the project for over two years, including
moving from more than one land parcel that did not fit into the master plan for
the community. "We look forward to continued cooperation with the UG, the City
of Bonner Springs, the Delaware Tribe and our goals to bring this destination
resort to the community."
The resort/casino has a three-phase master plan. In the first phase, the
property will include a 15-story hotel tower with 250 upscale rooms and suites,
a 148,500-square-foot casino, 3,000 slot machines, 90 table games and a
750-seat bingo parlor. The resort will include an upscale steakhouse, a
24-hour restaurant, a buffet, a food court and five venues that include a
sports bar, a deli and barbeque facility combined with a cabaret, and three
free-standing bars.
A convention facility will provide 70,000 square feet of meeting space that
will include a 2,700-seat showroom, meeting rooms and a boardroom. Parking
facilities will include 1,000 covered spaces, 2,400 open spaces and 10 acres of
oversized vehicle parking. The resort also will have a health club and pool
and will feature an automobile museum for auto racing fans. Gillmann said
construction of phase one could take 18 to 24 months after the land is put into
trust. He said that of the phase one total project costs of $225 million, over
$100 million would be construction payroll and that union labor will complete
all work.
Henry Tiblow, the founder of Bonner Springs, was a Delaware Indian who was
educated at the Shawnee Mission and served as a translator for the Delaware and
Wyandotte tribes in the 1840s. The tribe, originally named the Lenni Lenape,
is headquartered in Bartlesville, Okla., and today has more than 10,000 members
living in Kansas, Oklahoma, California and Texas. The Delaware were one of the
first tribes to come in contact with Europeans in the 17th century and to sign
a treaty with the United States, which occurred in 1778. Originally located
along the Delaware River, the tribe was relocated westward beginning in 1829
and was pushed by the federal government through Ohio, Indiana, Missouri,
Kansas and finally to Oklahoma (Indian Territory) in 1867. But, the Bonner
Springs area was the tribe's last recognized reservation.
Promised a distinct reservation of its own in Indian Territory, the Delaware
moved onto land purchased from the Cherokee Nation and continued to operate
their own tribal government and social and religious functions. Controversy
arose with the Cherokee Nation that required litigation and eventually left the
Delaware a landless tribe.
But, that designation ("landless Tribe") is now a major factor in the
Delaware's ability to return to their last reservation (Bonner Springs) and
seek property to be placed into trust for the purpose of gaming. In 1996, the
Delaware regained their federal recognition from the BIA, a status confirmed by
a recent federal district court decision. Currently, the tribe is nearing
completion of a child-care center in Caney, Kan., and operates child-care
facilities in Nowata and Chelsea, both in Oklahoma.
The Gillmann Group, headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., specializes in the
development, financing, construction and management of tribal gaming
enterprises. Founded in 1989, the company's growth coincided with the
expansion of Indian gaming in the 1990s. The company's recent development
projects include the Laguna Development Corporation's Laguna Express Casino and
Route 66 Casino, both in Albuquerque, N.M. Previous projects have included the
early phases of The Barona Casino in San Diego, Calif., The Paiute Palace of
the Bishop Paiute Tribe in Bishop, Calif., Susanville Indian Rancheria in
Susanville, Calif., and the Robinson Rancheria Casino and Table Mountain
Casino, both in Northern California.
DATASOURCE: The Delaware Tribe; The Gillmann Group
CONTACT: Jack Taylor, +1-702-873-0249, or Stephanie Bethel,
+1-702-247-9437, both of Lund & Manasse Advertising, Ink., for The Delaware
Tribe and The Gillmann Group