MGM Grand at Foxwoods

Foxwoods and MGM Mirage have joined forces to add a $700 million casino-hotel, theater, and convention center to the Foxwoods property. (Rendering by Dennis Champlain / Foxwoods Resort Casino)

The MGM Grand hotel, casino and convention center (r.), due to open in May.

From the looks of things at the almost-finished MGM Grand at Foxwoods in Connecticut, the biggest gamble its developers might be taking is betting that the 825-room, business-friendly hotel and casino will be ready for its scheduled grand opening on May 17.

A hardhat tour of the grounds in mid-March found plenty of Sheetrock dust, acres of vacant casino space awaiting the arrival of 1,400 slot machines, and only the skeletal beginnings of the escalators and airport-style people-movers that will shuttle guests through a skywalk being built between the new resort and the existing Pequot Tower (which is undergoing its own major renovation).

But not to worry, said Christopher O'Connell, director of hotel operations at Foxwoods. Not only is construction on schedule, but every room in the hotel will be ready on May 17 - no soft openings or phase-ins, he said.

"It's a separate property," said O'Connell, emphasizing that the resort will cater to a different customer than the rest of Foxwoods. "It's not an expansion [of what's here already]."

The $700 million project has the potential to lure conventions from big cities. The new property adds 115,000 square feet of meeting and convention space to Foxwoods, including the 50,000-square-foot Premier Ballroom, double the size of Foxwoods' existing Grand Ballroom. The Premier will be the largest column-free ballroom in North America, according to Foxwoods.

As the business-oriented center of Foxwoods, the MGM Grand will address some of the shortcomings of the present facilities. For example, while wireless Internet connections are hard to find today, the MGM Grand will be blanketed with free Wi-Fi, even outdoors at the Grand Lawn and a 5,500-square-foot pool. Strategically placed corridors and escalators will separate the flow of conventiongoers from the less business-minded gambling traffic.

"We hit all of the touch points that we needed to," says O'Connell. "We have some very high expectations to live up to."

A visit to a finished room revealed additional amenities for business travelers, such as laptop-friendly desks with lamps that light the keyboard, not the screen; clock radios with docks for iPods, office-quality digital phones and Ethernet jacks. Flat-panel TVs, high-thread-count bedding and stylish bathroom fixtures and Jacuzzis also separate the MGM Grand from the rest of Foxwoods.

As construction workers buzzed around the casino, the shells of restaurants, bars and stores were taking shape. In addition to high-end restaurants like Alta Strada and Craftsteak, Junior's, the downtown Brooklyn cheesecake emporium, will open a restaurant in a building linked to the MGM Grand's main lobby.

The 4,000-seat MGM Grand Theater will become Foxwoods' top event venue, eclipsing the 1,400-seat Fox Theatre. Gloria Estefan will open the new theater with concerts May 23-25. Already booked for later this year are Huey Lewis and the News, Gladys Knight and Al Green, Michael Bolton, Cyndi Lauper, the B-52s and Rosie O'Donnell.

O'Connell said convention bookings at the MGM Grand have done well since Foxwoods began taking bookings in early 2006.Using online virtual tours, potential customers have been able to "walk around" the MGM Grand for months. He said some days are already sold out, with the overflow cascading into the 806-room Pequot Tower.

Since the MGM Grand's location allows it to offer lower rates than comparable hotels in big cities, O'Connell said, the aim is to try to draw major conventions away from older sites.

"We're in a perfect location when you consider our position between Boston and New York," he said.

Like the rest of Foxwoods, the MGM Grand will be owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation. The MGM Grand name is being licensed from MGM Mirage, owner of the MGM Grand properties in Las Vegas, Detroit and Macau.

So, will the paint be dry, the Sheetrock nailed and the floors carpeted in time for the first gambler on May 17?

Place your bets.

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