PHILADELPHIA,
MS - The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians broke ground
on its Golden Moon Hotel & Casino outside Philadelphia in
Neshoba County November 16.
The
572-room gambling and hotel operation, a mirror of the tribe's
highly successful Silver
Star Resort & Casino, is part of the first phase of the
Choctaws' $750 million Pearl River Resort.
The
Golden Moon, a 280-acre recreational lake, a cultural center,
the Pear River Town Center business park and a 300-room lakefront
hotel are all expected to be completed by 2002.
An
amphitheater, fairgrounds, a water park and a university style
fitness and health center also will be developed.
Pearl
River is designed as the only large-scale resort development
on a tribal reservation. The plan was inspired by the success
of the Silver Star Resort, which with its 90,000-square-foot
casino and world-class golf course designed by Tom Fazio has
continued the economic development that began when Martin
brought manufacturing jobs to the region.
The
Golden Moon will be a near duplicate of the first hotel-casino
and, with the other development, will generate another 2,000
jobs.
The
tribe owns and operates 15 manufacturing, service and retail
businesses on a reservation that is scattered over 30,000
acres. The businesses help the tribal government provide its
8,300 members with education, health care, job training, housing,
police and fire protection, tribal courts, utilities and other
community services.
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