Rapper Tone Loc, left, entertains the crowd as several concertgoers fill the stage during the “I Love the ‘90s” concert event at the Cowlitz Ballroom at ilani April 22.
Rap duo Salt n Pepa perform during the “I Love the ‘90s” concert event at the Cowlitz Ballroom at ilani April 22.
Rapper Young MC performs during the “I Love the ‘90s” concert event at the Cowlitz Ballroom at ilani April 22.
Last week marked one whole year of ilani, and the business does not appear to be slowing down according to top officials with the casino.
April 24 marked one year after ilani officially opened, and that year’s experience was a positive one for ilani General Manager Kara Fox-LaRose.
“It feels amazing to be working with a team that truly values our mission, and to witness the efforts by so many to bring the ilani experience to life has been something that I certainly cherish,” Fox-LaRose said.
The casino was gearing up for its second concert when Fox La-Rose spoke to The Reflector, an ensemble of popular acts from the 1990s aptly named “I love the ‘90s.” The venue, the Cowlitz Ballroom, had only opened earlier that month.
“There really wasn’t a bad spot in the house,” Fox-LaRose commented regarding the first show when Little Big Town played the 2,500-capacity ballroom. One of ilani’s focuses with the new venue was bringing arena-caliber acts to the more intimate setting.
Fox-LaRose said that after starting strong, the casino has sustained its visitation levels of about 8,000 to 10,000 daily.
About 1,500 employees overall work at ilani either with the casino proper or its restaurant affiliates, Fox-LaRose said. Of those people the vast majority were local with 80 percent coming from either Clark County or Cowlitz County.
What surprised Fox-LaRose the most in the past year was the amount of enthusiasm ilani employees have shown in running the casino, even though 85 percent of employees recruited by ilani had not worked in the gaming industry prior.
“It’s really fun to watch them blossom as the business evolves,” Fox-LaRose said.
Apart from gaming Fox-LaRose also touched on the business’ focus on its other amenities such as the numerous restaurants adapting to what the customers want as well as the free shows at Muze Lounge.
“We like to focus on that we are not just a casino,” Fox-LaRose said.
Along with maintaining the same level of offerings currently, Fox-LaRose said the remainder of 2018 would be evaluating the market to see what’s next for ilani. Currently the casino is in the process of undertaking a hotel market feasibility study, “so that when we are ready to expand we are building infrastructure that would support the existing business,” she explained, later adding that they see a hotel on the horizon, but the timing of that is yet to be determined.
Overall, Fox-LaRose had optimism for what would come for the casino.
“We’re excited about the future,” Fox-LaRose remarked.
Food: Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse becomes more locally driven
General Manager Brian Napiany and Head Chef Cory Hoekstra knew they needed to make a few changes at Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse toward the end of summer last year.
After a strong start through the spring, when ilani and its many restaurants were still a novelty, the restaurant’s guest list began to dwindle.
Although Napiany and Hoekstra understood that the nicer weather was somewhat to blame for the slower summer numbers, they still took the opportunity to reevaluate.
During the first couple months they tried to emulate the Chicago feel, a bigger city model, Hoekstra said. Once the “honeymoon phase” was over for them and the rest of the casino, they began to get a better feel for who their clientele was going to be, and it was primarily locals.
“That was our biggest struggle,” Hoekstra said, “figuring out we weren’t Chicago, we weren’t New York city — we weren’t Portland, quite honestly.”
The restaurant’s shift to local ingredients started with its main attraction.
They now purchase cuts of beef out of Oregon — Fossil, Pendleton and St. Helens — as opposed to the Chicago area.
They’ve also added a number of seafood dishes with ingredients pulled from Oregon and Washington waters: Crab-Crusted Filet Mignon and Dungeness Crab Bisques are two examples, along with a new spring appetizer of Barbecue Shrimp, which comes lathered in thick, spicy cream and is coupled with slices of ciabatta bread which are cooked with duck fat.
But the most glaring example of their recent efforts is a different spring addition, Bacon Macaroni Cheese. The ever-popular comfort dish combines three cheeses — parmesan, cheddar and mozzarella — from the region’s most beloved cheese factory, Tillamook.
“We’re definitely thriving more now that we’ve done that,” Hoekstra said of the restaurant shifting its focus to have more local appeal.“As much local product as we can bring in, the happier our crowd seems to be.”
Their effort to be more locally focused extended even to the bar, where they’ve built up a large selection of regional whiskeys and wines.
According to Hoekstra, the transition hasn’t been a difficult one, in fact pulling from local sources has only made his job more enjoyable.
“It’s a chef’s wonderland,” he said of the Pacific Northwest’s vast access to land and sea foods.
Sadly, though, neither of Hoekstra or Napiany could say when Michael Jordan would be stopping by to visit his Southwest Washington steakhouse.
“We have no idea,” Napiany said.
Impacts on La Center
Across the interstate the city of La Center is feeling the impacts of ilani’s opening, though Mayor Greg Thornton said it wasn’t anything the city could not deal with. He said that the first quarter gambling tax revenues were significantly lower than first quarter of 2017 before ilani’s opening, to the tune of about 42 percent.
That drop in revenue was expected, Thornton added. In January the city voted to restructure its gambling tax rate to be more in line with revenues in order to alleviate some of the loss in business the city’s two remaining cardrooms are facing.
Thornton said the city is looking at different economic opportunities, mentioning a recently-completed sub-area master plan for the interstate junction involving a mix of uses with a goal as a sort of “town center” setup.
Regarding traffic impacts, Thornton said the city has seen increased traffic, though whether or not it was due to the casino was harder to determine.
“We have quite a bit of residential construction happening right now in La Center,” Thornton said, mentioning that across the county populations are going up and could also be the culprit behind more traffic.
In some cases the Cowlitz Tribe and La Center have been able to work together, with Thornton commenting that the city had a “great” relationship with the tribe. He mentioned specifically their help in extending a sewer line to the junction as part of that working together.
“I think that La Center and ilani are good neighbors,” Thornton remarked.
