Seminole Tribe plans gambling complex for Hollywood

Work will begin in January on the two-year project.

"The concept is to build a first-class resort," said Joe Weinberg, a partner with Cordish Co. of Baltimore, which has the contract to build the complex. "It'll be a significant economic development project for the state and the region."

Tribe officials, declining to comment on specifics of the complex, said the hotel and casino will rival the Miccosukee Indian gambling resort in the Everglades. That resort boasts a 302-room hotel, a 1,300-seat bingo and gaming hall and concert facilities that have drawn such names as Little Richard and Chuck Berry.

Federally recognized in 1957, the Seminole Tribe has about 2,000 members and maintains headquarters at the Seminole Indian Reservation in Hollywood.

The Seminoles are a key component of the Florida economy, with gaming complexes in Hollywood, Tampa, Immokalee and Brighton. In March, the tribe celebrated the opening of an expanded 30,000-square-foot casino in Coconut Creek.

The tribe's gaming holdings are part of a multibillion dollar statewide gambling industry that includes the lottery, horse and dog tracks, jai alai frontons and gambling cruises as well as Indian gaming.

To make room for the Hollywood complex, some 300 families at a 60-acre mobile home park will have to move. The Candlelight Mobile Home Park sits on land leased from the Seminoles next to an existing bingo, which will become part of the new resort.

archive