Topping Off Ceremony Marks Expansion For SugarHouse Casino
By Pat Loeb
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Even as it braces for new competition, SugarHouse Casino is pushing through with a 164-million dollar expansion of its Fishtown facility. Thursday it marked the topping off of the new section, that will more than double the size of the casino.
SugarHouse fought a second casino license for Philadelphia, arguing the market was saturated, but it's adding hundreds of new slots and dozens of new table games.
General Manager Wendy Hamilton says that was part of the agreement when it was licensed and she says most of the new space won't be for gaming.
"There's a focus on amenities." says Hamilton. "It's a whole bunch of restaurants, it's the event space, it brings the poker room inside from the temporary structure that's detached today so it does a lot of things that really frankly will help us compete in what's about to become an even more competitive region for casinos."
The expansion more than doubles the size of the casino but Hamilton says it's only increasing gaming space by 25 percent.
The final beam went up on a tower that will be internally lit and visible from a distance. The new parking garage will also have an art project on its exterior.
