Station eyes expansion of Boulder Station

Station Casinos Inc. is taking the first steps toward an expansion of Boulder Station, but a top company official says the expansion is not imminent.

Station put out a request for proposals on the project in the construction industry publication Engineering News-Record. The project was described as a "bowling alley expansion, casino expansion and renovation, food court and construction of an underground tunnel connecting to valet parking."

But the request for proposals doesn't mean Station is poised to expand its Boulder Strip hotel-casino, said Glenn Christenson, chief financial officer for Station.

"It's just part of our ongoing master plans for the property," Christenson said. "Don't necessarily look for us to begin this project any time soon. We're trying to figure out the cost, and the appropriate time to plug it into our development plans."

The size of the eventual expansion is also as yet undetermined, Christenson said.

New conditions to Station's bank credit lines will make expansion difficult for the next several years. Under new covenants negotiated with Station's bankers, the company is blocked from spending more than $75 million a year on capital expenditures through Sept. 30, 2003. If the company buys back stock, the $75 million maximum will be reduced by the amount of the buybacks.

Station also committed to reduce its debt levels from six times cash flow on June 30, 2002, to five times cash flow on Sept. 30, 2003.

The new restrictions won't delay any planned expansions, Christenson said, because Station had no large projects planned for that time.

"We've gone through a very aggressive acquisition and development phase," Christenson said. "We're in a harvesting mode. Our focus now is on operations and shrinking our capital base. If we came up with something we thought was important, we could sit down with the bank group and request further modifications. I don't view this in any way as being limiting."