Workers Celebrate Topping Out at Biloxi Margaritaville
January 22nd, 2012
Construction is moving along on the Margaritaville Casino in Biloxi, and workers recently celebrated the “topping out”:
This first party at Margaritaville was marked with barbecue and a pine tree, a traditional symbol when a building is topped out — usually when the highest beam is put in place. That happened weeks ago, but the crews, who also were celebrating no serious injuries on the job, kept working and focused on a May completion. The resort will open the week of May 20.
Bob Kelly of Innovation Project Development in Ocean Springs, the owners’ representative, said 200 to 300 trades workers are on the job at any time and most are local. Roy Anderson Corp. of Gulfport is general contractor and the three major subcontractors are Aladdin Construction of Biloxi, Haynes Electric of Gulfport and MCC Group from New Orleans. Kelly said the company working on the volcano for Margaritaville is from Wisconsin, but hired a local crew.
Margaritaville Biloxi CEO Tom Brosig said a core staff of about 25 people are preparing for the casino opening. “I think the intense hiring will start in April,” he said.
In the center of the building is a 28,000-square-foot casino that will have 821 slot machines and 18 table games. A 5 o’clock Somewhere bar will open to both the casino and the 900-seat entertainment venue that will double as overflow space for the buffet. Balconies, which can be used for meetings and parties, rim three sides of the entertainment space.
Read the full article here and view a photo gallery here.
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