Butte gambling proposal getting a new name

The concept is the same — although the name has changed — and the Music and Entertainment District project is alive and well, according to a spokesman from Butte Local Development Corp.

By Leslie McCartney of The Montana Standard

The title Destination Montana can’t be used anymore due to copyright problems. A Bozeman woman had sued developers, contending she had the name first.

"The name ownership is being worked out," Jim Smitham of the Development Corporation told about 50 people at the local Democrats’ Burros Club meeting Wednesday.

Smitham said work on the proposed $1.8 billion project continues, although the project suffered a defeat in the Legislature when lawmakers refused to OK open gaming. In addition to gambling in a half-square-mile area in Uptown Butte, the project proposed a theme park, recreational facilities and entertainment venues for 1960s and 1970s performers.

Developers plan to return to the Legislature to pitch the idea. Next time, they will be better

prepared, Smitham said, and will field previously unanswered questions about financing, strategic partners and their plans. Other people, including out-of-area legislators, will also be better informed, he said.

"If we go out and educate, I think we’ll see a change of heart in many areas," Smitham said.

Florida-based Barry Singer, a project developer, and his partner Bob Tormey are working to extend land and building options secured in the past year in preparation for renewed activity, Smitham said.

"We will have a second chance, but not a third," Smitham said.

In conjunction with the on-going work, Butte business people and community members have organized to act as a "catalyst" in helping advance the Music and Entertainment District. That group is headed by Gary Harrington of Harrington Flooring. "It’s just getting started, it’s not really structured yet," Smitham said.

More discussion is planned on the thorny Indian gaming issue and with the Montana Tavern Association, whose powerful lobby helped turn the tide against the project. That industry likely saw the district as a threat, rather than an opportunity for further visitors to the state, which will also benefit casinos, Smitham said.

Also, developers must better address the infrastructure issues, Smitham said.

Chief Executive Judy Jacobson said that local government worked with developers over the past year, but it did not have the specifics needed to properly analyze infrastructure for such a large project.

"When they get the green light, dirt will be flying fast and furious," Smitham said of the project’s construction.

Concerns have also been raised that the idea will be "stolen," and implemented in another state before ground can be broken for the project in Montana, Smitham said. That is why developers are pushing for the earliest time frame to present the idea.

However, there is no guarantee that the gaming project will make the special session, if one is called. Also, special sessions can be trying and hurried, making such a pitch at the time risky, Smitham said.

"The worst thing in the whole world is a special session," said Sen. Dan Harrington, D-Butte, a longtime legislator.

Rep. Larry Cyr, D-Butte, thinks it might behoove developers and Butte to wait until 2005, when redistricting has been completed, since that could change the situation.

— Reporter Leslie McCartney may be reached via e-mail at [email protected].

http://www.mtstandard.com/articles/2003/06/05/newsbutte_top/hjjgjdjejbhijg.txt