EVERETT – The selection by International Speedway Corp. of Marysville as its preferred site to build a NASCAR racetrack has spurred the Tulalip Tribes to accelerate plans for a hotel and convention center.
ISC wants to be racing in the Pacific Northwest by 2008.
Tribal Chairman Stan Jones Sr. left a board of directors meeting Monday to attend the county news conference. The hotel was discussed at the board meeting.
“We were waiting for this,” Jones said. “This will really make a difference to the tribe. We’re looking at widening roads and having some type of mass transit right to the (racetrack) site.”
If the track is built, the Tulalips may develop a shuttle system to get people between the racetrack and Quil Ceda Village on the west side of I-5, where people could gamble at the Tulalip Casino or shop.
“We would need to be open by the fall of 2007,” said state Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip.
McCoy is general manager of Quil Ceda Village, where the Tulalips already are building an outlet mall. Future expansion plans include a hotel, an amusement and water park, and other facilities. Although the Tulalips have many developments on the drawing board, the slow economy delayed many of them. But the racetrack proposal and the Winter Olympics in British Columbia in 2010 have revved plans to get some of those projects started.
“We’ll be making the decision (on the hotel) real soon,” Jones said.
Initially, the tribes considered a hotel with about 250 rooms, but now is considering 500 rooms, or something in between, he said.
“And I’m sure we’ll move the other things along. We’ll be running out of room pretty soon. I think this is going to trigger a lot more development and jobs.”
The Tulalips also plan to build a recreational vehicle campground on the west side of 27th Avenue NE for people who come to the casino or the shops and want to stay awhile, he said.
The tribes will be working closely with officials in Marysville and the county to get roads around the casino widened, Jones added.
Reporter Cathy Logg: 425-339-3437 logg@heraldnet.com.
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