The Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati is scheduled to open its doors March 4th.
City officials and others gathered Tuesday morning near the site to celebrate infrastructure improvements near the Downtown location.
Mayor Mark Mallory said the work is the result of a collaboration between the city, the casino and nearby residents.
“There’s a lot of work that has gone into making sure that this facility fits the community,” Mallory said. “That the operators of the casino understand what this community is all about and they do.”
Improvements include: widening and straightening roads; installing new traffic signals; replacing sidewalks and curbs; relocating utilities underground; and the installation of trees, street lights and other furnishings. The work also created four landscaped plazas in the area.
Pendleton neighborhood resident Carrie Rathod attended a ceremony near the casino site.
“I was one of the skeptics a couple years ago,” Rathod said. “I’m thrilled with the result of the partnership that has come about, and helped transform the Pendleton neighborhood as a result of the casinos’ investment and the city’s partnership in Pendleton.”
Steve Rosenthal works with Rock Ohio Caesars, which is developing the casino.
“The process began to identify off-site improvements near the casino site,” Rosenthal said. “And really there are about three or four goals in mind: enhance the connectivity with the city, improve pedestrian traffic and traffic flow, and beautify the streets.”
The completed projects total nearly $23 million. The funds were made possible through a tax increment financing package. That allowed the city to issue bonds based on a guaranteed valuation of the casinos’ future property taxes.
