Related stories

Casino won't dramatically alter Cleveland's beloved Higbee Building

More casino and gambling coverage

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Developers of Cleveland's downtown casino say they will open a first phase of the operation in the historic Higbee Building within a year, possibly less.

At a news conference at 11 a.m. today, Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert and Caesars Entertainment Corp. Chief Executive Officer Gary Loveman are expected to announce that the casino will carry the Caesar's Horseshoe brand, with a bit of a twist.

They'll pass up the Old West image familiar to gamblers at the five existing Horseshoe casinos in favor of a more contemporary look.

They expect that the Higbee casino will draw about 5 million visitors a year and employ between 1,500 and 1,600 people. Hundreds more construction jobs will be created, the developers say.

"The majority of people hired for the casino, 90 to 95 percent of them, will be from the Cleveland area," said Marcus Glover, who will be introduced today as the first general manager for the Cleveland Horseshoe Casino.

"That's the philosophy of Dan Gilbert," Glover said. "We want to put people to work. We're hoping that this translates into a big windfall for the city."

Glover said that in the months ahead he will hold job fairs and dealer training schools for people hoping to land a job.

Local leaders had asked the developers to consider opening a Phase 1 casino in a location like the Higbee Building because the larger gambling operation, to be built nearby on 16 acres between Huron Road and the Cuyahoga River, won't open until at least 2013.

Casino tryout

The announcement:

A first phase of Cleveland's downtown casino will open in the Higbee Building in about a year.

The developer:

The brand:

The operation:

The importance:

The general manager:

Previous Plain Dealer coverage

Dan Gilbert's casino gaming company and Caesars purchase property for Cleveland casino (Feb. 1, 2011)

Flats group proposes straightening Cuyahoga River to make room for casino (Dec. 1, 2010)

First look at casino design finds upscale restaurants, shops (Nov. 23, 2010)

More stories on the Cleveland casino, gambling

Ultimately, developers are planning that the Huron Road property will hold a chic riverfront casino complex wrapped with upscale shops, large-scale video screens, street-level plazas and alfresco dining. They recently purchased the land for $85 million from Forest City Enterprises Inc.

In 2009, voters gave Gilbert's gambling company the OK to build two of the state's four casinos. Friday, he will appear with Caesars executives at a ceremonial groundbreaking in Cincinnati, where Rock Ohio Caesars, the development firm formed by Gilbert and Loveman, will build a $400 million downtown casino to open in about a year.

Though Rock Ohio Caesars officials have been tight-lipped about the cost of the Higbee casino, sources close to the project said the developer will spend hundreds of millions of dollars converting the former department store and beloved Cleveland landmark.

There will be two ways to enter the casino -- the building's existing entrances off Public Square and Prospect Road.

The gambling operation will take up two floors, the street level and the floor above it, or about 96,000 square feet, complete with about 2,000 slot machines and 50 to 60 gaming tables for craps, blackjack, roulette and poker, among other games.

"We'll have pretty much anything you'd see in Las Vegas, except for a few of the amenities," Glover said.

For example, the Higbee casino won't have a steakhouse, a common feature of Horseshoe brand casinos, or even a full-service restaurant. But it will have a 400-seat buffet-style restaurant serving up authentic Cleveland dishes, two bars and a gambling operation that developers believe will lure visitors from about 150 miles around.

And there will be a dedicated poker room with 25 to 30 tables that will operate under Caesar's World Series of Poker brand name.

"We hope to bring world-class gaming to Cleveland," said Glover. "You won't have to go to Detroit anymore. You won't have to go to Pittsburgh."

Glover, 35, has been in Cleveland for months working out of an office in The Q.

John Payne, head of Caesar's Midwest operations, said Glover was tapped for Cleveland because of an eight-year string of accomplishments, starting at the company's casino in downtown New Orleans and ending most recently as the assistant general manager of the company's Harrah's St. Louis Casino.

"Cleveland is going to have similarities to the way we run New Orleans," Payne said.

"We'll use the city as our anchor," he added. "Many of the great restaurants and hotels that are downtown are going to become partners with us. We'll use those operations to help drive our business."

The company will also use its extensive rewards program, a tiered system that offers more benefits the more a participant gambles. It's designed to encourage repeat customers to visit Cleveland even though they may be regulars at other properties.

The Higbee property is next to Forest City's Tower City Center, the office, hotel and retail complex on Public Square. Forest City owns the Higbee building, and Rock Ohio Caesars is leasing the space for the casino.

The casino is among several large downtown developments in the offing, including a medical mart and new convention center, a $275 million office-and-hotel development on the east bank of the Flats, a new Inner Belt Bridge and an aquarium on the west bank of the Flats.

Matt Cullen, a partner in Gilbert's gambling company, said that these and other major attractions, namely the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the convention center and local sports teams, can feed one another business as well.

Cullen said the developers started with the fundamental belief that creating jobs for the city was good for them, too. "It's the right thing to do, and we think there are economic opportunities in doing so," Cullen said.

One major question that remains: What will happen to the Higbee casino when the larger gaming operation opens on Huron Road?

Said Glover: "We're hoping that people will like what they see, that they will look at it and say, 'Let's keep this going, let's couple it with the permanent casino.' "

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: ddavis@plaind.com, 216-999-4808