Spirit Mountain Casino renovations underway with temporary restaurant site changes

By Alexander Bliven

Smoke Signals intern

The Mountain View Sports Bar at Spirit Mountain Casino has temporarily relocated to the former Happy Dragon restaurant space near the Rouge River room as renovations to modernize sections of the casino continue.

The sports bar closed in its previous location Monday, July 27, and reopened in its temporary position on Thursday, July 30. The bar is expected to remain there until December when casino construction is expected to be completed.

Throughout renovations, the weekly Monday Elder dinner remains unaffected and continues to be held in the Rogue River room during its normal business hours.

In an email update sent to casino employees, Tribal Council Chief of Staff Stacia Hernandez outlined several other changes within the casino as a result of renovations.

The Sportsbook opened in a new temporary location near the relocated sports bar Wednesday, July 22.

10 Barrel Hop Yard permanently closed at the end of business on Sunday, July 26.

From Tuesday, July 28, through Thursday, July 30, the Rogue River room temporarily operated as a buffet-style dining venue while final preparations were completed to relocate the sports bar.

Additionally, Spirit Mountain Casino CEO Camille Mercier said that entry gaming is scheduled for completion Tuesday, Oct. 27.

“All temporary amenities are now in operation, with the same operating hours for the sports book and the sports bar as before,” she said. “Menu choices remain the same in the temporary sports bar. Drawings and other marketing activities previously done in The Peak will now take place on the active gaming floor. No other normal operation services are expected to be impacted.”

During the Tuesday, July 28, Legislative Action Committee meeting, Tribal Council and Spirit Mountain Gaming Inc. Board of Directors member Kathleen George said construction of the project’s structural components was already underway and was ahead of schedule.

“Barring any unforeseen problems, they expect to get done a little ahead of schedule before Christmas,” George said. “And so that's the goal and right now, that looks good.”