Speedway puts Kansas casino in the fast lane

For two weekends each year, the Kansas Speedway is a beehive of activity during the facility's two racing weekends. But for the other 50 weeks, Kansas Speedway lays mostly dormant.

But a casino proposal submitted in September by speedway officials aims to make the speedway a hot spot 365 days a year.

Partnering with Baltimore-based entertainment developer Cordish Co., the Speedway has proposed a project outside of the second turn of the racetrack for a $600 million casino, resort and retail complex.

"The proposed facility will overlook turn two and continue on about halfway down the backstretch," Kansas Speedway president Jeff Boerger said. "It's all about integration with the speedway."

Integration and cooperation seem to be words most associated with the speedway's proposal. Boerger also emphasized the proposal's partnership with Cordish.

"We were approached by eight casino developers to buy our property for casino purposes," Boerger said of the initial interest in the property after Kansas Legislators authorized a single casino in Wyandotte County. "We identified Cordish as the strongest one of those partners."

While Boerger admits the Speedway's core interest is racing, bringing in the entertainment background of Cordish allows the two to combine their expertise for a casino development.

"We're always trying to diversify our original investment and enhance the entertainment for our fans," Boerger said. "Cordish brings even more credibility to the process."

The speedway's president noted that all five KCK proposals, including one submitted on two different pieces of property, are in close proximity to the speedway. Even Edwardsville's two proposals are just a short drive from the racetrack.

"We are the original anchor," he said.

The speedway proposal would include the following casino, entertainment, dinning, retail and convention components:

- A parking structure with 1,728 spaces, some of which would be underground. An additional 1,824 surface parking spaces.

- A 100,000 square-foot retail promenade, flanked by 152,100 square feet of retail, dinning and entertainment establishments.

- An approximately 125,100 square-foot casino floor, complete with slot machines, table games and a "high-roller" area.

- A 40,000 square-foot theatre, and both indoor and outdoor pools.

- Inside the main casino facility, plans call for a series of bars, a steak restaurant, an Italian restaurant, an all-day buffet-food court area and a 10,000 square-foot nightclub.

Initial plans submitted call for a 10-story, 340-room hotel. Later plans could add an 18-floor, 972-room hotel and a 10-floor, 230-room hotel. If completely built out, the speedway would have more than 1,500 hotel rooms to go along with the casino.

"We've got the 'Class A' proposal that focuses on high quality development," Boerger said. "Other plans seem to be 'B' and 'C' type proposals."

Boerger estimates the Speedway's casino would entice an additional 8.5 million visitors annually to Kansas City, Kan., bringing the total number of people visiting Village West attractions to nearly 19 million people per year.

"The Kansas taxpayer has already made a significant investment in the area," Boerger said of the use of sales tax revenue - or STAR - bonds to finance portions of both the speedway and other Village West-area development projects. "We've proven ourselves to be long-term partners in the community, and we believe our proposal creates a synergistic component to the Village West area."

But that existing investment included portions of the Speedway property that had been acquired through eminent domain. The Speedway's original casino proposal included some of that land. However, Speedway officials have since revised the plan to include none of the land acquired through eminent domain.

"We want to be transparent in our operations," Boerger said. "We've disclosed everything we've done up to this point; it's all about integrity."

While speedway officials are providing the land, infrastructure and local expertise on the project comes from Cordish.

"We had a pre-existing relationship with International Speedway Corporation on other development projects," said Joe Weinberg, a principal with Cordish. "Working with them at the Kansas Speedway was a natural partnership."

Weinberg said Cordish would be responsible for the design, development, financing and management of the facility if the proposal received consideration.

The Baltimore-based company continues its work in the Power and Light District in downtown Kansas City, Mo., but its development expertise also includes the inner-harbor area in Baltimore and the development of the Hard Rock Casino in Florida.

"The Hard Rock Casino is the highest revenue generating casino in the country," Boerger noted.

Boerger says that if the Speedway Casino eventually is nominated, it might be just the beginning of what Cordish could do in KCK.

"This could eventually bleed into downtown KCK," he said.

But in a field full of development proposals that include breathtaking renderings and a stunning list of amenities, Boerger believes the speedway will hit the jackpot when the process finally ends.

"We've got the financial background and the high-quality development," he said. "It's all an issue of who can generate the most revenue, and at the end of the day, we're going to deliver the revenue and top-notch development.

"It's fairly easy to see that our proposal delivers everything the Unified Government has asked for."

Kansas City Kansan