• By SCOTT DYER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: May 17, 2009

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

More than a year after receiving approval from voters, Pinnacle Entertainment is moving ahead to get zoning for its south Baton Rouge casino.

The casino is part of Pinnacle’s proposed mixed-use development near the intersection of Gardere Lane and River Road that is scheduled to go before the city-parish Planning Commission at 5 p.m. Monday in the Metro Council Chambers at 222 St. Louis St.

Because Pinnacle’s riverboat casino is an expansion of gambling, the state constitution requires the project to get the approval of voters in a local-option election. Pinnacle did just that, garnering 56 percent of the vote despite opposition from the two existing casinos.

Unlike the existing casinos that have operated downtown for more than a decade, Pinnacle’s proposed casino would be part of a massive 577-acre tract in south Baton Rouge that will also include a golf course, hotels, single-family and multi-family residences, retail outlets, restaurants and office space.

Pinnacle’s 577-acre tract is  slightly larger than the entire 550-acre Downtown Development District.

Pinnacle’s proposed south Baton Rouge casino won’t look anything like the downtown gambling boats.

Built under the original set of regulations, the downtown casinos were both designed to resemble steam-powered riverboats, and were required to cruise in the Mississippi River when they first began operating.

The cruising requirements eventually were eliminated and the state revised its design requirements for riverboat casinos. They still have to float on water and to maintain a maritime crew to comply with state law.

Pinnacle’s proposed casino will look more like a building and will float in a moat on the river side of the levee near the intersection of Gardere Lane and River Road.

“It will have the look and the feel of a land-based casino,” Pinnacle spokeswoman Pauline Yoshihasi said of the proposed casino.

Instead of multi-story gambling decks like Baton Rouge’s existing riverboat casino, Pinnacle’s proposed casino will feature a single floor of gambling space, with restaurants and an entertainment venue on the second story.

Pinnacle’s casino won’t be limited in size like the “first-generation” riverboats downtown that were built on 80-foot-wide hulls so they could negotiate locks on rivers and waterways.

Even though Pinnacle has delayed the project because of financing complications caused by the recession, the company is moving ahead to rezone 577 acres for a mixed-used development that eventually would include a golf course, an equestrian center, a 14.6-acre central park, 430 single-family homes, 240 condominiums or apartments, 137,500 square feet of retail space, 137,500 square feet of office space, two 100-room hotels and a 160,000- square-foot casino and entertainment complex.