PORTSMOUTH, Va. - The City of Portsmouth and Rush Street Gaming unveiled new renderings of the proposed casino.
The City Council approved the proposal with Rush Street Gaming, headquartered in Chicago, during the open session in May.
Rivers Casino Portsmouth [is described to be a world-class destination planned for the new Entertainment District along Victory Boulevard.
The front facade of the approximately 400,000 square foot facility will feature clean, contemporary architectural lines with glass windows to fill the indoor experience with light. Garage and surface parking will be available, casino officials describe.
Rivers Casino Portsmouth will feature a full lineup of slots, table games and poker, along with several new restaurants, a hotel and conference space.
The casino is set to bring more than 1,300 permanent jobs and about 1,400 construction jobs.
In addition to the $300 million local investment, Rivers Casino Portsmouth will generate an estimated $16.3 million in new annual tax revenue to the City of Portsmouth. Rush Street Gaming will pay another $10 million to Portsmouth for the Victory Boulevard acreage.
"We're looking at approximately $16 million annually in some type of tax generation that's everything from entertainment tax, property tax, sales tax and that nature. but you can expect a similar number for the region because this is something that's going to be a regional project," Portsmouth Economic Development Director Robert Moore said.
Malcom Mitchell, vice chair of the Economic Development Authority said he and his colleagues on the Board were excited by the design and think Portsmouth citizens will agree.
“From these images, we get a sense of the aesthetics and energy that’s consistent with where Portsmouth is headed,” said Mitchell. “Rivers Casinos in New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois were each constructed on underutilized land—and today those casinos are surrounded by restaurants, theaters, stadiums and other development activity. The enhanced renderings are really bringing the vision for the corridor to life – it’s an exciting next step.”
