SugarHouse expansion heads toward the finish line
A December soft opening is planned for the expansion at SugarHouse casino that will emphasize nongaming amenities and activities.

ANOTHER MILESTONE in the $164 million SugarHouse casino expansion will be marked this morning with a "topping off" during which a large lighting fixture will be placed atop the seven-story parking garage that's currently under construction. But the event also signals that the 17-month-long project is headed into the home stretch.
"Opening is scheduled for the very end of this year," SugarHouse general manager Wendy Hamilton told the Daily News earlier this week. "We will open 'silently' the last two weeks of December and then come out big in early January."
When completed (three months later than originally planned), the construction will virtually double the riverside casino's footprint. While a permanent poker room will open in the main casino (the card parlor is currently housed in a temporary facility on the south side of the property) and an additional 250 slot machines and 40 gaming table games will be introduced, the emphasis will be on nongaming activities and amenities.
To that end, seven still-unidentified dining and beverage outlets are planned, as is a multifunction event space that will host everything from entertainment programs to weddings. The idea, offered Hamilton, is to grow business by appealing to nongamblers.
"It opens our doors to a much broader segment of Philadelphia, and that's what we're most excited about," she said.
On an unrelated note, Hamilton promised SugarHouse will be operating during Pope Francis' visit the last weekend of September. But, she admitted, like so many other local businesses, her gaming hall needs to figure out how to get employees to their jobs in the face of a total shutdown of vehicular traffic in Center City.
"There are obviously going to be lots of crowds in town on foot that could access [local] businesses. The problem is getting the people who operate the businesses to their place of work," she said. "I can't [report that] we have all the details worked out yet."
Blog: philly.com/Casinotes























