The soon-to-be-completed 826-room MGM Grand at Foxwoods is the latest project to stand testimony to Perini Building Company's unparalleled record of performance constructing masterwork destination resorts. In September, Engineering News-Record recognized Perini as the top builder of hospitality projects in the country.
Designed by HKS, Inc. of Dallas, Texas, the two million s/f MGM Grand at Foxwoods features 826 rooms, 50,000 s/f of ballroom space (including the largest pillar-free ballroom on the East Coast), 21,000 s/f spa and 50,000 s/f of new gaming space.
"We are very proud of our work here at MGM Grand at Foxwoods," said Sam Sabin, senior vice president of Perini Building Company, who oversees building operations on the East Coast. "It demonstrates our collaborative approach that emphasizes pre-construction planning, and our ability to fast track projects to produce a revenue stream at the earliest possible date. It's also a great example of our exceptional relationships with Native American Tribes as far south as Florida and as far west as California."
A Leader in Native American Hospitality
In Florida, Perini worked closely with the Seminole Tribe and its development partner, The Cordish Company of Maryland, to build two destination resorts in Tampa and Hollywood, Fla. for a combined total of 750 rooms. The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood features over 115,000 s/f of gaming space; the 5,600-seat Hard Rock Live! concert venue; and Seminole Paradise, a 350,000 s/f retail district.
Twenty-one months from groundbreaking, Perini delivered Phase I of Project Sunburst at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn., including a 10,000-seat arena, 115,000 s/f casino, a two-level, 135,000 s/f retail and restaurant area, and later, the 34-story, 1,200-room hotel tower.
The Perini efforts at MGM Grand at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun were expansion projects of extraordinary proportions. Following the trend of Native American facility expansions, the new hotel tower at Foxwoods' world-class resort is more traditional in its design and not as strongly themed as Project Sunburst at Mohegan Sun which, in 2001, added an astonishing 4.9 million s/f to the development.
World-Class Owners and Developers
"We have unequaled experience building fast-track destination resorts here in the East," says Sabin, referring to the company's ongoing effort in Maryland, building Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, a 20-story, 2,000-room resort located eight miles south of Washington, D.C. (the second project awarded to Perini by Gaylord Hotels - the first being the award-winning 1,400-room Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center near Orlando, Fla.). Operations in Nevada include the much-publicized 18 million s/f CityCenter for MGM MIRAGE, the largest privately financed development in the United States. Nationwide, Perini's clients include leaders in the hospitality and gaming market: Harrah's Entertainment, Station Casinos, Marriott, Kerzner Group and Donald Trump.
Financial lenders favor projects to which Perini is attached. "Our clients choose us because we have the most experienced and knowledgeable pre-construction people in the business," said Sabin, "We have very strong relationships with the industry's most noted architects and interior designers. Most importantly, we can provide reliable budgets and realistic schedules to meet our clients' requirements. Of course, executing a game plan on the job site requires talented field management teams and highly qualified subcontractors that advocate the best interests of the project and the owner."
Perini Green
The expression "Perini Green" once referred to the color of the company's logo. Today, it reflects the growing portfolio of "green" projects built by Perini. "Many gaming and hospitality projects are seeking LEED certification and we're well positioned to guide owners towards this goal," said Sabin, referring to the coveted "Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design" designation from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Dormitories at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, Conn., built by a design-build team led by Perini, recently received LEED certification. When MGM MIRAGE's CityCenter receives its LEED certification, it will be recognized as the largest "green" project in U.S. history.
Growth in the Hospitality and Gaming Market
The company's roots in the hospitality and gaming market can be traced to 1976 when New Jersey voters approved a referendum legalizing gaming in Atlantic City. Over the next 15 years, Perini played a major role in the revitalization of the city, building more than half of the total number of hotel rooms in Atlantic City. Perini's most recent projects include the expansion of the Resorts Hotel/Casino, including a 27-story hotel tower, 14,000 s/f of additional gaming space and new lobby area, and The Pier Shops at Caesars, a three-level 303,000 s/f luxury retail, dining and entertainment experience built atop a pier extending 900 ft. into the Atlantic Ocean.
Hotel and casino operators in Atlantic City with facilities in Las Vegas embraced Perini's reliance on pre-construction planning and its collaborative, team-centered approach. Experience developed on the East Coast was readily transferable to the Las Vegas hospitality and gaming market which Perini entered in earnest in 1984. Quickly, client confidence evolved into lasting relationships built on trust. In the early '90s, Perini built the largest hotel in the United States, the pyramid-shaped Luxor. Additional award-winning resorts built by the company in Nevada include the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas, Paris Las Vegas, and Caesars Palace.
Masterworks in 2008
Of the 4,000 hotel rooms to be delivered by Perini Building in 2008 for hospitality and gaming clients in the U.S., nearly three-quarters of them will be located in the Northeast, including the 826 rooms at MGM Grand at Foxwoods. With the emerging hospitality and gaming market in Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania, Perini is well positioned to assist owners and architects in creating signature masterworks and memorable destination resorts.