B.J. Fairchild-Newman, Shelbyville News Staff Writer
The Indiana Horse Racing Commission gave unanimous approval on Thursday to Phase I of Indiana Downs' preliminary plans to enlarge the facility and turn it into a racino to accommodate slot machine gambling in addition to horse racing.
Indiana Downs is required to keep the Horse Racing Commission as well as the Indiana Gaming Commission informed of any changes to the track, and both commissions must vote in favor of the expansion plans.
"We still consider (Indiana Downs) to be a horse racing facility. It is important for us to address the needs of the horse racing industry," said Lee McNeely, the attorney representing Indiana Downs.
McNeely presented packets of information to the commission members and used a large diagram of the conceptual architectural rendering to illustrate the proposed renovation. He was joined at the podium by Martha Sabol, a Chicago lawyer who specializes in gaming regulations, whose firm of Greenberg Traurig is partnering with McNeely Stephenson Thopy and Harrold to represent the local track.
The expansion plans presented on Thursday differed from conceptual plans published in The Shelbyville News on Sept. 15, and McNeely and Sabol assured the commissioners that many more changes are likely before final plans are submitted for approval. The most noticeable changes in the updated plans were the absence of a hotel and only one parking garage instead of two.
McNeely said Phase II of the track renovations is likely to include a hotel and perhaps a convention center, but that construction is not expected to begin until after Phase I is finished. After completion, the two phases would represent an investment by Indiana Downs of $500 million, he said.
The revised conceptual plans still feature a 48,000- square-foot temporary casino to house between 500 and 700 slot machines that the track hopes to open in April. The rest of the 100,000-square-foot casino will then be built around the temporary facility with the goal of tearing out a wall and making it a single facility once the casino is complete and outfitted with a total of 2,000 slot machines.
Revised plans also show two areas of retail development attached to the casino once Phase I is completed, perhaps as early as 2009. An area of 15,000 square feet is between the casino and the single, four-level parking garage of 105,000 square feet, plus an additional 35,000 square feet of retail development is attached to the casino but also adjacent to an enlarged area of outdoor parking. The completed casino will require 50,000 square feet of back-of-house offices and security.
The current three-level, white vinyl 75,000-square-foot building with its distinctive bright red roof visible from Interstate 74 will remain, but the jockey quarters and paddock area that also are seen from the interstate will be torn down and relocated to the north side of the existing building.
Horse racing priority
The Horse Racing Commission is naturally eager to ensure that the focus of Indiana Downs remains on horse racing, not slot machine gambling, and several commissioners were concerned about whether the horse track would be visible while gamblers are playing the slots. McNeely assured the commission that Indiana Downs is committed to keeping horse racing as its priority and understood the concerns of the commissioners, but he was unsure if security needs would allow a window into the casino.
"If you can see out, then people can usually see inside," McNeely stated. "We are still investigating how we can make the track visible from the casino."
The commissioners also questioned whether people interested primarily in horse racing would have to walk through the casino in order to reach the horse racing area of the building.
McNeely said he understood their reservations since the current design features one grand entrance - the porte cochere - located on the south side of the building, and he would express this concern to the architects and engineers working on the plan.
"We want this to be a facility that is good for race fans," McNeely said.
Joe Gorajec, executive director of the Indiana Horse Racing Commission, said that although funneling all the visitors through the casino might "maximize revenue," it would not necessarily "maximize horse racing."