Greenbrier to Build a Casino
Jeri Clausing, Travel Weekly, 7/17/2009
The new owner of West Virginia's historic Greenbrier resort has unveiled plans to add a casino.
Jim Justice, who bought the resort out of bankruptcy last month, said he expects to break ground on the casino soon, with an opening expected in April 2010.
Until then, the resort will add a temporary casino with slot machines and table games in the resort's Virginia Wing. That will open Sept. 15, he said.
Justice said when the casino is complete, the resort will set "a new standard for luxury gaming destinations." Voters in the area last year approved a plan to allow gaming at the resort.
"We are so excited about the plans for the new casino," Justice said in a statement. "It will be a truly spectacular facility, very elegant and unlike anything anyone else has seen before. We will integrate five-star service throughout the casino and resort, something that is very rare within the industry."
Justice said he hired gaming veteran Todd Fishon as vice president of casino operations. Fishon began his career at Showboat Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City N.J., and later worked for Foxwoods Resort and Casino in Connecticut.
The Greenbrier, a National Historic Landmark that has hosted presidents and kings since 1778, has had it its share of struggles in recent years.
The 721-room resort was one of the few properties in the country to have received both a five-diamond rating from AAA and a five-star rating from Mobil Travel Guide. But it lost a star in 1999.
In 2008, after owners spent $50 million on renovations in an attempt to regain that star, a host of clients canceled regular meetings due to a protracted labor dispute.
After losing $35 million in 2008, the resort in January laid off 650 employees. In March, the Greenbrier filed for bankruptcy.
Justice, a local businessman, swooped in and bought the resort in June after Marriott International had reached a tentative agreement to acquire the property from previous owner CSX Corp.