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Photo by Steve Adams | Banker & Tradesman Staff
Overseers of the mammoth resort casino preparing to open on the Mystic River in Everett plan to finish hiring the initial workforce and complete the installation of more than 3,000 gaming machines and tables by the end of May.
Executives from the Wynn Resorts project presented on numerous aspects of the $2.6 billion Encore Boston Harbor development at a meeting of the state Gaming Commission on Monday morning.
The meeting, with agenda items covering traffic monitoring, and other development-focused issues, marked the turning of a page from a focus on Wynn Resorts’ suitability to hold its casino license to the opening of the Boston-area casino.
Executive Director Edward Bedrosian said the meeting’s agenda represented the “culmination of parallel paths getting ready for the opening of Encore Boston Harbor.”
Encore Boston Harbor Vice President Jacqui Krum and Peter Campot, head of Wynn Resorts’ design and construction arm, said the company aims to have the construction work done by June 1 to give the operations teams enough time to prepare for the scheduled June 23 opening.
“We’re essentially on schedule and we expect to be in very good shape by the first of June,” Campot said. “All of the slot machines are on the floor now and I think all of them are installed and we’re also installing gaming tables throughout. So if you walk through the facility right now it actually looks like a casino, which is pretty neat.”
Between now and then, workers will be “in the final throes of finishing spaces throughout the facility” and working to address outstanding items on the punch list, Campot said.
He and Krum said the hotel portion is almost entirely finished, with furniture now being installed on the 27th of 27 floors. The convention center space is complete and some ceiling framing and drywall work is about all that remains to be done on the gaming floor, they said. The state has begun the process of inspecting all of the resort’s elevators and escalators.
The casino’s parking garage is finished except for some work on a single floor, paving is about 70 percent complete around the project site and landscaping work might “go right up until the end,” Campot said.
The casino has already brought 930 employees on board and said 86 percent of its total hires are currently in its hiring process. At its peak, Wynn Resorts expects the workforce at Encore Boston Harbor will total about 5,500.
“Generally, it’s gone really smoothly,” Krum said of the hiring process. She said the casino wants to have its employees hired by June 1 so everyone can go through trainings and a company orientation ahead of the grand opening.
The casino has hired more than 100 police officers to work details at and around the casino during its opening, including 84 troopers from the State Police, 12 Everett officers, 13 Boston officers eight officers from Medford and 13 officers from the MBTA Transit Police. The U.S. Coast Guard, State Police, Everett Police Department and Boston Police Department will patrol the Mystic River and surrounding waterways, and Boston’s transportation and public works departments will be on hand to assist with signaling issues or issues at the Alford Street Bridge.
New signs will be installed on the Mass Turnpike, I-93 and local roads to direct drivers to the casino, but DeSalvio said the company’s pre-opening messaging is going to emphasize that gamblers should use public transportation instead of driving.
