B.J. Fairchild-Newman, Shelbyville News Staff Writer
Oliver Racing LLC, owner of Indiana Downs, on Tuesday made an early payment of its $150 million licensing fee to the state of Indiana that is due today.
Legislation passed earlier this year to allow slot machines in Indiana's two horse racing facilities mandated a total fee from each track of $250 million. The final $100 million is due by Nov. 1, 2008.
On Wednesday, track officials and legal representatives met at Indiana Downs with Mayor Scott Furgeson, city planner Tom DeBaun, representatives from the Indiana Department of Transportation, and Jeffrey Meyerrose, senior associate at Woolpert, the engineering firm drawing up the track expansion plans, to discuss possible modifications to the access to Indiana Downs from Interstate 74 and changes in preliminary construction plans at the track.
Furgeson said the city is determined to keep communication between the city and the track open to "keep one of our community's biggest projects rolling."
The revised plans feature an expanded outdoor parking area between Interstate 74 and Michigan Road, which will provide access to the track via a shuttle bus. Phase I of the casino initially will be 50,000 square feet - an increase of 2,000 square feet over the preliminary plans - and will house 1,000 slot machines. This part of the first phase should be finished by June 30, 2008, and the construction company will continue building while patrons use the casino.
To satisfy a request made by the Indiana Horse Racing Commission, two separate entrances will ensure that patrons aren't channeled through the casino in order to get to the horse racing section of the building. The commission is concerned about the slot machine gambling not overshadowing the horse racing, which is considered the main focus of the track.
By Dec. 31, 2008, a proposed parking garage and an additional 150,000 square feet of casino are scheduled for completion. Demolition of the current paddock and jockey quarters and the removal and relocation of utilities should begin in December if approval of the plans is received from the Shelbyville Plan Commission, and the new paddock and jockey quarters should be ready by April 1 in time for the start of live thoroughbred racing at the track on April 25.
The bill approved by the Legislature in April authorized up to 2,000 slot machines each at Hoosier Park in Anderson and Indiana Downs in Shelbyville in return for the $250 million licensing fee payment.
Both tracks are also required to spend at least $100 million to construct a building to house the slot machines, and construction plans are on the fast track for the two proposed racinos.
Indiana Downs received unanimous approval from the Indiana Horse Racing Commission on Sept. 27 for preliminary plans to enlarge the facility, but all changes in the original plans must be approved by the IHRC and the Indiana Gaming Commission.
Hoosier Park also met its deadline to submit $150 million to the state as a partial payment of its licensing fee for the slot machines, securing $1 billion in financing only two days before the payment to the state was due. Half of the $1 billion is earmarked for Hoosier Park, and the remainder will be used by the track's owner, Centaur Inc., for working capital at its horse track in New Castle, Pa., and a track and casino in Colorado.
Lee McNeely, the attorney representing Indiana Downs, recently met with John Klai, the architect for the expansion project at Indiana Downs and the principle, president and co-founder of Klai Juba Architects, when he visited the Shelbyville track to review plans and consider changes to the conceptual drawings. Those updated drawings will be submitted for approval to the Indiana Gaming Commission at an upcoming meeting.
The Shelbyville Common Council approved an ordinance on Oct. 22 designed to exert control over future development around Indiana Downs with the goal of establishing guidelines and restrictions on the type of businesses approved for the location. Projects featuring lodging, restaurants, package liquor stores, indoor recreation, amusement, theaters, cinemas and parking lots are considered appropriate, but massage therapy salons, pawn shops, tattoo parlors and body-piercing shops are prohibited by the ordinance, along with automobile and mobile home sales, additional truck stops, day-care facilities and churches.
The ordinance offers the possibility of special exceptions for the construction of heliports, vehicle repair and storage facilities, outdoor recreation and amusement and the sale of non-diesel fuel.
Live racing for the season at Indiana Downs ends with Saturday's harness races, but the track will remain open for simulcast wagering seven days per week from 11 a.m. to midnight, closed only on Christmas Day and Easter. Indiana Downs also has two satellite wagering facilities - one in Evansville that opened in 2003 and a site in Clarksville that opened in 2004.
The Associated Press and staff writer Ron Hamilton contributed to information for this story.