Mohegan Sun convention center project has green light
Mohegan — Another addition to Mohegan Sun is all but underway.
With its plan for a shared north-central Connecticut casino seemingly stalled in the state legislature, the Mohegan Tribe confirmed Tuesday that it is proceeding with construction of an $80 million convention center at its flagship property here.
Tribal officials will discuss the project Thursday at a news conference.
The facility, scheduled for completion by next summer, will link Mohegan Sun’s Winter Garage, Earth Casino and Earth Tower, the $130 million hotel that opened last November.
With 131,000 square feet of exhibition space, the Mohegan Sun Expo Center will be able to accommodate the annual Barrett-Jackson Northeast collector car auction, which Mohegan Sun hosted for the first time last year. Held over several days, the event set Mohegan Sun Arena attendance records. This year’s event, again slated for the arena, will take place June 21-24.
All told, the Expo Center, which will include a ballroom and meeting space, will comprise some 240,000 square feet of space.
“It definitely will allow us to accommodate Barrett-Jackson but that’s not the only reason we’re doing this,” said Mitchell Etess, chief executive officer of the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority. “After seeing the impact that Barrett-Jackson had on the property, it was clear to us that the ability to host other functions like that would be very good for us.”
“It will give us much more flexibility in the convention business,” Etess said. “We’re addressing a need that has become more and more pressing as we’ve added rooms and continued to evolve as a destination.”
The Earth Tower hotel added 400 rooms to Mohegan Sun's capacity. The casino's original hotel, now known as the Sky Tower, has 1,200 rooms.
Mohegan Sun has outgrown its existing convention center, which includes the Uncas Ballroom, Etess said.
“With the expansion, we’ll be able to have big shows like home shows and health fairs that require a lot of exhibition space and at the same time book entertainment in the arena,” he said. “This will make us more competitive for convention business.”
A/Z Corp., the North Stonington-based construction company that built the Earth Hotel, will build the Expo Center. Kohn Pedersen Fox is the architect.
Comment threads are monitored for 48 hours after publication and then closed.
