Millennium Unveils 'Elegant' Designs for the Rock

Interest for a casino in Salem has reached a fever pitch, as evidenced by the nearly 250 people who squeezed into the Belmont Room of Rockingham Park Wednesday to take a peek at what the facility could one day look like.

Easels lined the front of the room displaying updated casino renderings.

The project, which would be backed by Millennium Gaming of Las Vegas, is now north of $600 million. The total investment is up over $150 million from the designs presented in February.

The new renderings include a convention center, resort hotel with spa and parking garages.

Millennium Gaming owns the option to purchase Rockingham Park should Senate Bill 152 pass the state legislature and a casino bid be awarded to the facility. SB 152 proposes up to 150 table games and no more than 5,000 video slot machines.

Bill Wortman, co-CEO of Millennium Gaming, tried to put to bed some concerns that have been echoing in Concord.

He said the convention center being planned will have convertable space for between 1,000 and 1,500 seats, but that he sees the venue carving out its own niche and not disrupting the operations of other New Hampshire venues.

"We're comfortable that we're going to be complimentary to, not competitive with, what's in the marketplace," said Wortman.

Representatives from the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord and Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom in Hampton all testified at the Statehouse last week about the challenges an entertainment venue on casino property will create.

State Rep. Patrick Long (D-Manchester) proposed an amendment last week to SB 152 during a House casino subcommittee work session. Long is looking for a casino entertainment venue to have no more than 1,500 seats.

Wortman later assured that there will be no temporary facility built during the time that a bid is potentially awarded to Rockingham Park and the casino is built.

He said that Millennium Gaming thinks the new Rockingham Park can be built in 18 months, and that a temporary facility would delay the permanent casino.

Wortman also spent time on charitable gaming, assuring that the gaming will remain intact during casino construction. He said the goal is to either preserve some of the current Rockingham Park space to continue the charitable gaming, or to find another suitable location.

As many as 2,000 construction workers would be on the site during construction, said Wortman.

During the operational phase, there would be about 1,300 employees at the facility.

Project architect David Climans called the casino's look "extremely elegant," with a "traditional New England feel" to it.

"We want it to blend with New Hampshire so it looks like the buildings were always here," he said.

Climans also emphasized that Rockingham Park is unique because of the return of the horse racing.

"This is something that nobody else will have. I think there is a tremendous opportunity to create something that is very unique and above everybody else because of that."

Both Wortman and Climans said the new design makes the new Rockingham Park proposal a resort, destination property.

The 45-member joint House committee working on SB 152 will reconvene today at the Legislative Office Building in Concord. A recommendation from the joint committee is scheduled for May 16.