Hollywood Slots on track Bangor racino’s gaming section coming toether for July opening

BANGOR – With less than five months to go before its planned grand opening, construction at Hollywood Slots Hotel and Raceway remains on schedule and within budget.

“It’s coming together – it’s starting to take shape,” Hollywood Slots spokeswoman Amy Kenney said Tuesday while leading a media tour of the facility, which sits on the bank of the Penobscot River and sports what is becoming its signature glass rotunda out front.

When it opens in July, the complex’s gaming floor will have 1,000 slot machines, a new state-of-the-art simulcast facility for those who prefer wagering on horse races, live musical entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights, a gift shop, a nearly half-mile buffet and a smaller snack bar.

The seven-story hotel, set to open in August, is nearly weather-tight. It will have 152 rooms, four of which will be double-size penthouse suites. Many of the rooms will offer views of the Penobscot River and the Bangor-Brewer skyline.

“This is the best view in town,” said Mike Morris, Hollywood Slots’ facilities director, standing in a corner room with windows affording views across and up the river.

Located at 500 Main St., across from Bass Park, Penn National Gaming Inc.’s $131 million gaming and hotel complex will serve as the permanent home for Hollywood Slots, which opened two years ago in an interim facility at the former Miller’s Restaurant a few blocks up the street.

The complex, which includes a gaming operation with an attached four-level parking garage and seven-story hotel, is huge by Bangor standards, taking up most of the 8-acre site the operation will occupy.

Both facilities will be served by the 1,500-space parking garage.

In keeping with the Tinsel Town theme, Kenney said a creative design firm from California has developed a concept for the overall complex, an Art Deco look with ornamental columns and fins and similar touches. The look is meant to evoke the grandeur of a glamorous hotel from 1920s and 1930s Hollywood.

As it stands, the highest denomination for the gaming machines at Hollywood Slots’ temporary location is $5, though some of the most popular machines are the penny and nickel slots, Kenney said. The new Hollywood Slots will have $10, $25 and possibly higher denomination machines, which will be located next to the glass rotunda.

Besides opening with 1,000 slot machines – a total that one day could climb to the state-set maximum of 1,500 slots – the new facility will feature:

. Epic Buffet, a 2,700-foot-long horseshoe-shaped serve-yourself eatery that will seat about 350 guests. Though the gambling and drinking aspects of the complex are for visitors 21 and older, minors will be allowed to eat in the restaurant and stay in the hotel. Kenney said buffet diners could watch the buffet chefs at work.

. Take 2, a snack bar that will serve Starbucks coffee, drinks and lighter fare.

. Hollywood Gifts, a gift shop that will offer items with the company’s new logo – a pair of red Marilyn Monroe lips with her trademark mole – as well as gifts made by Maine artisans.

. Win, Place or Show, a simulcast facility that can seat 60 to 70 people, according to Morris.

Other amenities that are starting to take shape inside the massive structure are a full-service bar, and a separate lounge area featuring a small circular stage designed to accommodate small ensembles, namely duos and trios, Kenney said. She said the company is looking for local talent to perform on Friday and Saturday nights.

The hotel, located behind the parking garage and gaming area, will have 152 rooms, four of them luxury suites on the top floor.

The seven corner rooms on the downtown river side of the hotel will offer views not only of the river but also of downtown Bangor’s steeple-studded skyline.

Kenney and Morris said each room would have a 32-inch flat-screen plasma television. They said amenities for hotel guests would include free wireless Internet access, a fitness center and a business center, laundry facilities, conference space for up to 200 people and a 25-seat boardroom.

Besides guest rooms, the hotel will have a business center and fitness area, as well as two rooms for meetings and conferences, both equipped with flat-screen panels for video displays.

. The Lancaster Room is designed to accommodate groups of up to 150 people, though it can be divided into two smaller spaces.

. Chairman’s Boardroom will have a seating capacity of 25 for smaller gatherings.

Despite the half-year wait for the hotel’s opening, Kenney said Hollywood Slots already is fielding inquiries from groups that want to use its meeting and conference facilities.

“We welcome that, so bring it on,” Kenney said.

As of Friday, she said, patrons can begin booking reservations for hotel rooms through the company’s Web site, www.hollywoodslotsatbangor.com.

dgagnon@bangordailynews.net

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