Two Tinian casino plans moving forward

Plans for two new multimillion dollar casino resorts on Tinian have begun moving forward in recent weeks, with crews beginning the first phase of construction for one while architects and engineers survey the site of the second to draft its design.

At the site of the Tinian Oceanview Resort and Condominiums, a plan by the Bridge Investment Group, workers are now laying the groundwork for full scale construction, according to Phillip Mediola-Long, CNMI vice president of operations.

Meanwhile, the Marianas Resort Development Co. has seen some early progress in building a turtle-shaped resort with a casino and golf course on the island.

In addition to building new staff housing, crews with the Oceanview project have begun an initiative to control erosion on the 75,000 square meter property ahead of the full construction effort, while also building a leeching field for a septic tank.

“Before I can bring over the workers, I need to build the infrastructure in order to house and have them there that’s the phase we’re in now,” Mediola-Long said, adding the company has already won approval from local environmental regulators for some key aspects of the plan.

The 301-room hotel and casino will include 268 condominium rooms. Bridge Investment has previously said it hopes to break ground on the project, estimated to cost between $40 and $60 million, sometime later this month.

Getting the necessary workers for the project has required a major undertaking, Mediola-Long added. The company had to work closely with local labor and immigration officials to have applications for foreign laborers processed before the federalized cap on the number of alien workers allowed in the Commonwealth is put in place.

Currently, there are only nine foreign workers and five locals on the hotel’s construction crew, though more may come later, he said. The number of local workers there now is much higher, however, because the company has hired a local security firm with 10 staff.

By December 2009, the hotel hopes to begin a hiring drive that could result in as many as 600 new jobs for the Commonwealth, he said.

“Actually, we don’t think this area can absorb” the number of new jobs the hotel will create, he said, noting the company may have to seek job applicants on Guam. Bridge Investment wants “to do everything they can to hire locally and indigenously because they don’t want to increase the cost of housing, transportation and contract processing,” he said. Yet he acknowledged that it might ultimately be necessary to hire staff from outside the Commonwealth.

And at the site of the MRDC project, attorney and former superior court judge Edward Manibusan, who is involved in planning the hotel, says the company recently signed a management contract with a company that will be reviewing the details of an environmental impact statement and other issues.

“There has been slow progress, but progress nonetheless,” Manibusan said, adding that architects and engineers were recently on Tinian to evaluate the project. “We’re hoping to break ground as soon as we can.”

The MRDC hotel is estimated to cost between $200 to $300 million, he said.