Penn gaming company betting on November slots opening

BANGOR – It’s crunch time for Penn National Gaming Inc.

With the opening of its Hollywood Slots in Bangor about three months away, renovations at the former Miller’s Restaurant on Main Street are in full swing. The former restaurant, which overlooks Bangor Waterfront, has been a hive of activity.

Since Penn acquired the former restaurant earlier this summer, it has gutted the entire building and now is in the process of converting the space into an interim facility that will house the first 475 of the 1,500 slot machines Penn is authorized to operate in Bangor, the only municipality in Maine that provided the necessary local approval.

Crews from Cianbro Corp. have been working six days a week to get the facility ready in time for its opening later this year.

“We’re on schedule for a November opening,” Jon Johnson, general manager of Penn National’s Bangor operations, said while giving a tour Thursday.

Johnson said Penn will invest $17 million in its temporary facilities, which eventually will be replaced by a larger $75 million gaming complex to be located at or near city-owned Bass Park.

“This is going to look as nice as any other [Penn National] facility when we’re done,” Johnson said of the facility now being developed. “That’s just the way we do business.”

At the former restaurant, a new sign and marquee has been erected and interior walls are being put up to create gaming, surveillance, office, kitchen, bar and other spaces. Some 30,000 feet, or nearly six miles, of cable is being installed to serve slot machines, more than 100 surveillance cameras, computers and other electronic equipment.

Furniture and equipment is being ordered and a California-based interior design firm that Penn uses has selected a color palette featuring carpets, tiles, paint and trims in shades of blue, gray and gold, with accents of red.

The theme, as the name implies, is Hollywood memorabilia.

“It’s an interesting theme that is easily transferable to other properties,” Johnson said. “And it’s cool.”

Though movie posters will figure heavily in the interim facility because of its relatively small size, Penn holds one of the country’s largest collections of movie memorabilia, with items ranging from Cat Woman’s suit, a Batman car and boat, the airplane from the Hitchcock flick “North by Northwest,” a car used in an Elvis Presley film and one of the late star’s guitars, and Dorothy’s ruby red slippers and a dress from the Wizard of Oz.

The items and the theme came with Penn’s 2002 acquisition of Hollywood Casino Corp., a group of Hollywood-themed casino entertainment facilities in Illinois, Mississippi and Louisiana.

The bulk of the slot machines, about 375 of them, will be set up on the upper level, which also will house a bar service area, offices for Penn’s managers and staff from the state’s gambling control unit, and the vestibule, the only public entrance.

The vestibule, Johnson said, will be where the ATMs will be located and where security workers will screen any minors, intoxicated people or people who are placed, or place themselves, on the exclusion list.

The lower level, where Miller’s operated its off-track betting facility, will house another 100 or so slot machines, as well as a small restaurant area and bar.

Outside, security lights are being installed in the parking lot, which can accommodate 220 vehicles, Johnson said. He said overflow parking will be housed at the corporation’s other facility, Bangor Raceway OTB, where slots players can hop on shuttles that will run between the two facilities.

Much of the work at the grandstand in Bass Park, which now houses the former Miller’s OTB, is complete. The new kitchen and bar are open, and patrons can order menu items ranging from wraps and sandwiches to prime rib.

The portion of the grandstand not occupied by the OTB is being converted to office space for support functions not directly related to the slots operation, including human resources, accounting and training.

Johnson expects the grandstand work to be completed by the Sept. 1 deadline.

At yet another Bangor location, the Bangor Career Center at 45 Oak St., applications now are being accepted for many of the 120 full-time positions Penn must fill before the November opening.

Johnson said Thursday that applications aren’t coming in as fast as the company would like. He said Penn hopes to interview at least 500 people for the positions that have yet to be filled. A job fair is scheduled for Sept. 7-9 at the career center.

Johnson encouraged people who want to apply to get their applications in as soon as they can, so that interviews can be scheduled for the job fair. Those who wait until the fair could find themselves waiting in line, he said.

Trying to turn a restaurant into a slots parlor hasn’t been easy.

“It’s had its challenges,” Johnson said, citing low ceiling heights and the need to reinforce some parts of the structure as among the complications. Another complication involved the elevator. It had to be moved four feet after workers ran into a 19th century brick sewer line that was still in operation.

More information about job openings at Hollywood Slots is available from the Maine Career Center at 561-4050.