Latest news with #CatawbaNation
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Catawba Indians reveal when $1 billion North Carolina casino is expected to open
Amid the earsplitting din of construction, the Catawba Indians on Tuesday revealed when they'll open their $1 billion Two Kings Casino Resort 35 miles west of Charlotte. While the main casino complex is expected to open in spring 2027, a single-story 'introductory' casino is on target for a March 2026 opening, tribal officials said during a media tour of the 2.2 million-square-foot project off Interstate 85 exit 5. 'Not only is this facility bringing great jobs to our tribe and our people and creating that generational wealth, it's also bringing that same opportunity to the citizens of Kings Mountain and the citizens of North Carolina,' Catawba Nation Chief Brian Harris said. The casino complex is the largest current construction project of any kind between New York and Florida, Nory Hazaveh, principal of SOSHNY, the N.Y.-based architect on Two Kings Casino Resort, told The Charlotte Observer at the site. The introductory casino part of the complex will include 1,300 slot machines, 22 table games, a 40-seat restaurant, an 18-seat bar, sports betting kiosks and a loyalty rewards desk, officials said. Inside the introductory casino Tuesday, construction officials pointed to steel piping where the ceiling will be, adorned by chandeliers. The lobby will feature a video mural of the history of the Catawba Nation, along with its pottery and basket making traditions, Trent Troxel, vice president of the Catawba Nation Gaming Authority, said on the tour. The tribe will close its current single-level casino, which celebrates its fourth anniversary July 1, three months after the introductory casino opens. Construction of the main casino complex started about a year ago. That includes the introductory casino, three levels of covered parking, a back-of-house level and a top level with the main casino floor and restaurants. Via an indoor 'skywalk,' the casino complex will attach to a 24-story, 385-room hotel that's also well underway. The casino complex will have 4,300 slot machines, 100 table games and 11 restaurants, including a steakhouse, an Italian restaurant, a marketplace with six venues, a café and a grab-and-go outlet. Restaurant names will be unveiled closer to the opening, officials said. The complex also will include a players lounge, 42 elevators and 11 bars, including a center bar and a sports bar. A 2,700-space parking garage will be built under the main casino floor on a high-rise casino building, and 800 surface parking spaces also will be available. The project already is employing hundreds of construction workers. Upon completion, the casino resort will employ about 2,200 local residents and citizens of the Catawba Nation, tribal officials said. With its current single-level, temporary casino, the operation already is providing education opportunities and health care to tribal employees, Troxel told the Observer. 'Most importantly, it's providing jobs,' Troxel said. 'Recently, we hired four or five tribal members. Some of them just came out of college. I didn't have that opportunity to go work for my tribe out of college. But there's opportunities for Catawba college kids now to come work for their nation.'
Yahoo
06-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
SC Native American tribes sign treaty promising to work together
Drum group Warpaint Singers performs a song following a treaty signing in front of the Statehouse steps Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. (Skylar Laird/SC Daily Gazette) COLUMBIA — South Carolina's Native American tribes will pool their resources and advocate as a group for protections under a treaty signed Wednesday, prompted by fears of erasure as the state's population grows. The state's 10 tribes — just one of them federally recognized — have long had friendly relationships. But the treaty marks a formal commitment to helping one another. This is the first time in South Carolina, and thought to be the first nationally, that tribes have made such an in-state commitment, tribal leaders said. 'Today marks a historic and sacred moment for all of us gathered here, as we unite in strength, purpose and pride, reaffirming our deep-rooted connections to this land and to each other,' said Lisa Collins, chief of the Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians, located in Berkeley County between Moncks Corner and Summerville. Tribal chiefs have been meeting regularly since the 1980s to discuss what's happening in their parts of the state, said Joshua Shumak, Native American coordinator for the state Commission on Minority Affairs and a vice chief of the Wassamasaw Tribe. State-recognized tribes Beaver Creek Indians Edisto Natchez-Kusso Tribe of South Carolina Pee Dee Indian Nation of Upper South Carolina Pee Dee Indian Tribe Piedmont American Indian Association, Lower Eastern Cherokee Nation of South Carolina The Santee Indian Organization Sumter Tribe of Cheraw Indians The Waccamaw Indian People The Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians Source: South Carolina Commission on Minority Affairs As the state's population grows, bringing with it increased housing and business development, most of the state's chiefs decided to formally band together to protect their land from encroachment, they said during Wednesday's signing ceremony on the Statehouse steps, to the cheers of about 200 people. 'Today, we stand at a crossroads, where the voices of our ancestors whisper in the wind, urging us to come together for the future of our people,' said Catawba Nation Chief Brian Harris. The state has about 80,000 Native Americans, Harris said, many of whom the treaty will represent. One state-recognized tribe, the Pee Dee Indian Nation of Upper South Carolina, did not attend. The Catawba Nation is the only federally recognized tribe, with a reservation of about 700 acres along the Catawba River in York County. But smaller tribes without designated land might face more pressure from incoming development pushing their culture out of the areas in which they live, tribal chiefs said. Putting the weight of larger tribes, such as the 3,000-member Catawba Nation, behind those smaller nations could help bolster them through difficult times, chiefs said. 'Because there are tribes at varying levels of capacity, we understand that working together will help each community to thrive,' said Cheryl Cail, acting chief of Waccamaw Indian People. 'We recognize that the ability to implement change in both federal and state policy requires unification of voice.' State recognition is a way of granting governing authority to tribes who are unable to present the rigorous documentation required for federal funding and benefits, or who decide not to seek that recognition for another reason. The state began granting recognition in 2005, first to the Waccamaw Indian People. At least 14 other states recognize tribes as having self-governing authority without federal recognition, according to the national Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Each of those tribes has its own language, culture and traditions, which could become lost to history without tribal leaders protecting their heritage, Cail said. 'By working collectively, we will be able to better protect our sacred sites, the environment and our people,' Cail said. That history is longer than any other group in the state's storied past, Gov. Henry McMaster said. That's important to remember when looking back on the story often taught of explorers reaching the Americas, he said. 'Well, America was already here,' McMaster said. 'America was already peopled by the ancestors of these people that you see here right now.' Meanwhile, the Catawba Nation's reservation is expected to soon grow by about 13 acres — something York County Council has already approved. Any expansion of the reservation must also be approved by the Legislature. The House unanimously agreed Tuesday. The legislation should also easily clear the Senate. The expansion is part of the Catawba Nation's recent push for more economic development and housing, said tribe spokeswoman Tylee Anderson.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bridge completed, providing access to tribal land for Catawba Indian Nation
A federal grant has facilitated the completion of the Rivercrest Road Bridge, a two-lane structure providing access to over 120 acres of tribal land for the Catawba Indian Nation. 'It's an exciting day': Crews break ground on new Kings Mountain casino The newly completed bridge, which spans just under a mile, opens up previously difficult-to-reach land that the Catawba Indian Nation plans to develop. The tribe intends to use the land for new housing, court offices, and business ventures, which are expected to significantly benefit the community. 'It's gonna be a very prosperous zone as soon as it gets going and we will be getting up soon within the next year,' said Chief Brian Harris of the Catawba Indian Nation. The development of new homes on the land will enable thousands of tribal members to return to the reservation, according to the Catawba Nation. The Rivercrest Road Bridge project marks a significant step for the Catawba Indian Nation, paving the way for economic growth and community development on their land. VIDEO: Catawbas break ground on $300M Vegas-like casino in Kings Mountain
