QUIL CEDA VILLAGE – Tulalip tribal officials celebrated what they described as the next major step in their economic plan Wednesday: construction of a $130 million hotel and conference center that is expected to accelerate development throughout the area.
“This is the anchor that really sets us apart in this area,” said Ken Kettler, the new president and chief operating officer of what’s being called Tulalip Resort Casino.
The Tulalips held the ceremonial groundbreaking Wednesday for a project that Kettler said will be different from a typical hotel. For example, the rooms will be larger – each at least 500 square feet – than most hotel rooms.
And the facility itself, he said, will be more lavish in an effort to compete with Las Vegas, Reno, Nev., Vancouver, B.C., and other resort areas. It will include a day spa, a pool, two restaurants, two cocktail lounges, a lot of tribal art and an adjacent Tulalip cultural museum.
“If we’re going to compete on the level we want to, we have to have that comfort,” Kettler said, adding, “Nobody (in the region) has that market position.”
The hotel will have 363 rooms, as well as a conference center that can feed 800 people, about the same size as the conference center built alongside the Everett Events Center. And it will go after entertainment such as boxing matches and other sporting events, Kettler said.
The project is expected to be complete in early 2008, well before the 2010 Summer Olympics in Vancouver, B.C. The project is expected to employ 400 people.
Members of the Tulalip Tribes board spoke Wednesday at the ceremony for tribal and community leaders, noting that the decision to go forward with the hotel was not an easy one.
“We didn’t get here overnight,” said Mel Sheldon, vice chairman.
But he said the decision is important for the whole area, not just the Tulalips.
“As this hotel comes to fruition, we are really going to accelerate the ripple effect for cottage businesses,” he said.
Sheldon and others noted that the proceeds from the existing Tulalip Casino have helped change the lives of many tribal members, and they expect the new hotel to have a similar effect. Elders are getting better health care, and more young people are graduating from high school and college, Sheldon said.
He called these days “the tribes’ golden era because of what it means to our community and to our greater community.”
Chuck James, former manager of the existing casino, called the gambling venue the cash cow that has given birth to the hotel project, “which is the next step for our tribe.”
“It isn’t the end to what we’re doing,” he said, noting there’s already talk of a second hotel tower. “We’re not done yet.”
Others noted that a major expansion of the more than 100 stores at the outlet mall near the casino is under discussion. As many as 50 more stores could be added, officials said.
John McCoy, general manager of Quil Ceda Village, where all the development is taking place, said the tribal museum, a new tribal administration building, a recreational vehicle park and some type of new entertainment venue are all in the works.
“We’re still trying to decide that,” he said of the recreational facility.
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