Anyone surprised that the Black Bear Entertainment casino complex will be completed in phases simply wasn’t paying close attention from the start.
In January of 2010, nine months before voters decided to approve the project, Black Bear was saying its resort would be built in phases over three to five years.
Last week, Oxford Planning Board member Walter Mosher said he had heard concerns from residents that the scaled-back first phase of the casino was “not what they voted for.”
The details of the plan may have been lost amid the debate, but they were clear in the beginning.
In a flier called “Just the Facts” released in January, 2010, Black Bear said the project would be completed over five years in three phases.
The first would involve the casino, restaurant and lounge. It would be followed by a 200-room hotel, which would be followed by a convention center.
Indeed, the first phase will be far more elaborate than the modest start Hollywood Slots got in Bangor when it opened in a converted restaurant. In 2008, it moved to its own building and opened a hotel.
All of which simply makes good business sense, to grow the business as the business grows.
Black Bear hopes to open its first phase, a casino building with an outdoorsy look, by December 2011.
editorialboard@sunjournal.com
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