The Silverton is undertaking a $60 million project that will include a 150-room Hyatt Place and an open-air shopping center with about a dozen retail stores, mostly food and beverage outlets such as Blaze Pizza and Starbucks.
Silverton Village is being built on undeveloped land adjacent to the casino at Blue Diamond Road and Dean Martin Drive, company officials said. It should be finished late this year.
The new hotel will sit on the west edge of the parcel, facing Interstate 15 near an existing Cracker Barrel Old Country Store. The hotel, which will have the same lodge feel as the Silverton, is expected to open next year.
“We just keep adding things that we think are attractive,” said Craig Cavileer, chief executive officer of the Silverton, which includes a 145,000-square-foot Bass Pro Shops outdoors store.
“Where we’ve been really lucky is things that we’ve added have been good for locals and tourists,” Cavileer said. “We’ve stayed away from movie theaters and bowling alleys. We stayed with food and beverage and total overall experience.”
The new project is being developed by the Silverton and Majestic Realty, with the companies owning and operating the Hyatt Place and the new Starbucks. Other confirmed tenants at Silverton Village include Firehouse Subs and Panera Bread.
“We’re looking to fulfill some things this southwest region doesn’t have,” Cavileer said. “We’re looking at who’s not here, what’s not here and what can we put at Silverton so this becomes a magnet for all our local customers.”
The Silverton plans to tie the shopping village and the casino together by letting customers use their players card points to shop and dine at village outlets.
“We do that already internally with Johnny Rockets, Starbucks and Bass Pro Shop,” Cavileer said, “Now we want the whole village to be open to members of the Silverton to use all the new facilities to use their points.”
As the economy improves, Cavileer said, the company also plans to revisit expansion plans scrapped during the recession.
Just before the economic downturn of 2007, the Silverton was getting ready to undertake a $400 million expansion that included a 400-room hotel tower, convention space, a rooftop club and a new pool with an outdoor night club.
The project was mothballed after the financing fell through, which turned out to be a stroke of luck, Cavileer said.
“Very disappointed at the time; couldn’t believe it,” he said. “How did everybody else get their deals done and we didn’t? It was about 12 months later and we thought we were the luckiest guys in the world.”
“As some of the companies struggled with bankruptcy, we didn’t. It’s good to be lucky, and timing matters a lot.”
It’s unlikely the Silverton would move forward with the 2007 expansion as originally envisioned, Cavileer said.
“I wouldn’t have a 25,000-square-foot nightclub on top of the tower. We would do it a lot different,” he said.
But, he said, “We need more rooms, and we need meeting space and some functional entertainment. We need to continue to grow and give more reasons for people to be here.”