The Coeur dAlene Tribe has begun a $15 million expansion of its hotel and casino complex near Worley, Idaho, with projects that will almost double the size of the hotel and add 400 gaming machines to the casino.


Construction of the projects began earlier this summer, and theyre expected to be completed by the beginning of next year, says Laura Stensgar, the casinos marketing director.


Aecon Buildings Inc., of Lynnwood, Wash., is adding 64,000 square feet of space onto the hotel, in a three-story, 100-room structure that will be built behind the current 96-room hotel wing, Stensgar says. Some of the rooms in the new wing will have views of the Coeur dAlene Tribes new Circling Raven Golf Club, she says.


The work in the casino involves expanding that 100,000-square-foot structure by 27,000 square feet in order to add more gaming machines, she says. The casino currently has about 1,400 of the video pull-tab machines. As part of that work, the casinos restaurant will be remodeled and will feature a permanent buffet-service area and a full lounge, Stensgar says.


Those expansion projects had been envisioned by the tribe several years ago, but were put on hold due to uncertainty over Indian gaming agreements with the state of Idaho. Last year, Idaho voters overwhelmingly approved an initiative allowing some growth in tribal gambling in the state.


Separately, the Coeur dAlene Tribe hopes to break ground next month on an 8,000-square-foot building near Plummer, Idaho, that will replace a tribal economic-development office that burned down in May, says Chief Allan, the tribes administrative director. The tribes planning office also will be located there, as well as high-speed Internet workstations for use by the community, he says.


The new structure also will serve as a visitor center at the western terminus of the Trail of the Coeur dAlenes, a new 73-mile long bike path that was created on the Union Pacific Railroads right-of-way between Plummer and Mullan, Idaho. That portion of the building will include maps, displays, and a store to sell water and other necessities to people who are embarking on the trail, Allan says.


He says the building, which is expected to cost less than $1 million, should be finished by next April.


Group West Cos. LLP, of Lynnwood, designed both the trailhead building and the casino expansion. The company also was responsible for the design of the original casino and hotel buildings and the golf clubhouse at Circling Raven.