MAY 9, 2008. Plans are in place for the new Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel to open on June 17 with the Grand Opening Celebration set for June 24.

The new casino and hotel, 10 miles east of Traverse City in Williamsburg, will feature a six-story, contemporary-design Hotel with 137 guest rooms including 10 suites, 4,500 square feet of meeting space, 54,000 square foot gaming floor, approximately 1,300 slots, 40 table games, poker room, gift shop, fitness center, two restaurants, six bars, night club, Player’s Club, and VIP parking with car wash.

An aggressive construction timeline for the new facility started in October 2006 when the groundbreaking was held for the 347,000 square foot casino and hotel complex that is owned and operated by the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.

A deliberate effort was made to hire local and Michigan firms for as much of the construction as possible. Although the Minneapolis, Minn. architectural firm of Walsh Bishop designed the new casino and hotel, and PCL Construction Services, Inc. of Burnsville, Minn. is overseeing construction, approximately 80 percent of the sub contractors are from Michigan with 55 percent from Northern Michigan, plus most of the manufactured construction materials were made in Michigan.

The existing Turtle Creek Casino remains in operation until the new casino and hotel open.