MGM Springfield, the Massachusetts casino being built near Connecticut’s northern border, has undergone design changes that MGM officials say won’t affect the amount being invested in the $800 million project.

In a statement Tuesday, MGM said it was providing Springfield officials with updated renderings that show the elimination of what was supposed to be a 25-story hotel tower as well as the relocation of 54 apartment units.

“We have revised our design, and in so doing, have developed a concept that we believe will permit more cost effective construction, address the interests raised by the state and local historic commissions, and serve as a catalyst for increased economic activity in Springfield,” Michael Mathis, MGM Springfield’s president, wrote in a letter to Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno.

Mathis said the redesign eliminates the hotel tower, relocating the hotel's 250 rooms to the front of the project along Main Street between State and Howard streets. The hotel would instead rise five stories above a ground floor devoted to retail space.

The apartments would be located outside the project’s existing, 14.5-acre footprint.

The residential component of the project could be completed before the casino opens, "and start bringing young professionals and all of the economic activity that comes with them, back downtown that much sooner," Mathis wrote. "... Rest assured that the proposed changes will not jeopardize our planned completion date of September 2018 and will result in no reduction, but instead likely an increase, to the $800 million investment in the Project committed to in our RFA-2 application.”

MGM Springfield, one of several destination resort casinos authorized in Massachusetts and New York — and the first to start materializing — has prompted southeastern Connecticut’s casino-owning Indian tribes to jointly pursue a casino project north of Hartford. The Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes signed an agreement earlier this month to seek proposals from north-central Connecticut towns willing to host a so-called “convenience” casino that would be expected to soften MGM Springfield’s expected impact on Connecticut jobs and gaming revenue.

Any such project is subject to approval by the state legislature, a process MGM is seeking to derail in a federal lawsuit.

MGM Springfield officials are expected to present their design changes to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission when it meets Thursday in Springfield.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com

Twitter: @bjhallenbeck