Sunridge hotel and casino proposed

Construction on a new casino to be built on a site near South Sunridge Drive and Highway 395 in Indian Hills could begin before the end of the year.

Brownstone GoldTown is finalizing financing for the $125 million Brownstone GoldTown Hotel and Casino, which they hope to open in 2009, according to a press release.

The casino project is the third major casino proposed for the Indian Hills neighborhood. It is proposed for about a mile and a half south of where Max Baer Jr. proposes to build his Jethro Bodine's Beverly Hillbillies Mansion & Casino.

Bodine's a $20 million casino project is under construction on the Carson City side of the county line.

The first phase of Brownstone GoldTown will include 300 hotel rooms, a 92,000-square-foot casino, 1,000 slot and video poker machines and 24-30 table games.

The casino will also include:

• 350-seat bingo parlor

• Six-table poker room

• Race- and sports book

• 250-seat celebrity concert stage and lounge

• Restaurants

• Convention facility and other recreational and support amenities

• 50,000 square feet of retail indoor outlet shopping

Phase II of the project is expected to include:

• Additional rooms

• Twelve-screen multi-digital cinema complex

• Special-events center

• Parking structure

• Additional 50,000 to 100,000 square feet of commercial retail space, multi-use space and multiple family and specialty restaurants.

Brownstone GoldTown has also entered into an option agreement, expiring in January, for the planned project site on a 45-plus acre parcel.

The site has been approved for gaming purposes.

Brownstone GoldTown has hired the law firm of Lionel Sawyer & Collins of Las Vegas as its representative in the project development and the Nevada gaming licensing process.

The casino is located on the site approved for gaming in 1987 as part of the original approval for Sunridge Heights. The project was taken over by Las Vegas Paving, which sought a special use permit in 1993. The permit was denied by county commissioners, but that denial was overturned in district court.

Baer's casino project includes a 40,000-square-foot gaming area with 800 slots and 16 tables, a showroom, cinema complex and five-story, 240-room hotel in almost 300,000 square feet. A proposal for two 12-story hotel towers and a 200-foot oil derrick was denied last week by the Douglas County Planning Commission. The county commissioners have the final say and could meet on the issue as soon as next month.

The Bodine's project includes a 26,000-square-foot casino with subterranean parking garage and surface parking, 250 slots, no table games, one restaurant, two bars and a race and sports book with room for an 8000-square-foot expansion. This project is estimated to be complete by early 2008.