Tribal resort casino opening in California delayed due to unfinished parking lot

An unpaved parking lot is standing in the way of the grand opening of the new Havasu Landing Resort & Casino on the California shoreline of Lake Havasu.

“Find me some concrete workers,” said Brian McDonald, the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe’s Vice Chairman, as reported by Today’s News-Herald. “We’re having workforce challenges in trying to get our parking lot finished. We can’t invite people here if the lot isn’t done.”

The blazing summer heat is a contributing factor that keeps concrete finishers from completing the work. McDonald noted that all other construction work is on schedule. “Things are progressing on track for the dates we had with contractors. The parking lot is the last big piece of the project,” he added.

In the spring, former tribe official Glen Lodge stated that July was the target month for opening both the new hotel and casino. McDonald said that statement was essentially true a few months ago. “We had to choose a date for the alcohol license, so we chose July 31,” he said. “We’ve done several walk-throughs but we don’t have any firm, hard dates yet (for opening) because there’s no parking lot.” He did note that the tribe is assembling art for the new facility and furniture was to be delivered this week.

The new casino will feature a 48-room hotel. The adjoining restaurant will be about 30% larger than the current facility’s dining room, at 2,000 square feet. The casino will also be about 30% larger, at 13,000 square feet. In addition to a 117-slip marina with a fuel dock, the new resort will have a pool, fitness center, an arcade for children and a small meeting space.

McDonald dismissed town talk that blames the delayed opening on the lack of round-the-clock fire protection. “The fire protection issue has been resolved,” he said. “We’ll have 24-hour fire service through San Bernardino County.”

The fire department will cover the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe reservation and other county real estate. “We have pockets of county property on the reservation,” McDonald said. “We have 32,000 to 36,000 acres of pristine desert. It runs from just north of Copper Canyon to just short of the (Havasu) wildlife refuge.”