COLUMBUS, Ohio — Plans are in place for a new hotel to be built at Hollywood Casino in west Columbus.
Renderings of the future hotel were revealed on Friday.
The casino announced it has an agreement with the Columbus Building & Construction Trades Council to build the hotel. Permitting for the project is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
The new hotel will feature 200 rooms, including suites, an additional food and beverage option, expanded conference and meeting space, fitness center and an outdoor seating terrace.
The 150,000-square-foot hotel is expected to be built over the next year, with the groundbreaking taking place between October and December.
According to a release, the hotel will bring temporary construction jobs and create about 100 permanent jobs within the hotel once it is complete.
Hollywood Casino was opened in 2009 and features 1,700 slot machines, 70 table games and the largest poker room in central Ohio.
One neighbor who has living in the area for 20 years said that he's "cautiously optimistic" about the hotel.
“I mean you would think that would bring some people in some better things in that area of town. The reason I’m cautiously optimistic is because there were all those promises before the casino came when the vote came to decide to have a casino or not, and none of those promises that I saw came true. Nothing," John Evans said.
M&S Carry Out owner Ali Elkit hopes this drives more business. The carryout is located about a half mile from Hollywood Casino.
“I believe that it’s going to get busy – as they are talking about over 200 rooms it’s going to be. So I believe it’s going to be busy for the west side area,” Elkit said.
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