Tribal officials say purchase of Cherney property may prompt wide-ranging development
I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Jan. 7, 2001
By Devlyn Brooks
Staff Writer
WARROAD -- Electricity is in the air as a small group of Red Lake Band of Chippewa officials size up the landscape.
One points to the north where he knows lies the southern shore of Lake of the Woods, but it remains unseen. Another chitchats about the proximity of the Warroad River, a scant hundred yards to the west. Still another marvels at the stately barn framed by various pine trees to either side, a scene seemingly stolen from the front of a Christmas card.
All say they feel it ... that something big is going to happen here.
"We're thinking of putting in townhouses there, a marina over there, possibly an indoor water park, maybe a snowmobile track," said Tribal Treasurer Dan King. "There's just all kinds of potential."
King is standing on 160 acres of land recently purchased by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, a chunk of undeveloped land the band hopes will lure people to the northern tip of Minnesota.
King and Tribal Chairman Bobby Whitefeather say the land is a crucial piece of the plan to expand the band's economic opportunities in this resort town that is underdeveloped.
"This could surpass Thief River Falls, depending upon how much Warroad grows as a destination point," Whitefeather said, referring to the band's flagship casino-hotel operation in northwestern Minnesota.
The land
King said the band plunked down $590,000 last July for the land, a local landmark.
Sitting simultaneously on the eastern edge of where the Warroad River enters Lake of the Woods, the land offers several hundred feet of prime lakeshore. A stately, large four-bedroom home sits at the southern end of the property and a massive barn sits at the other end. A paved driveway leads past the house to the barn and farther. Antique-looking street lamps follow the driveway all the way to the barn.
Known as the Cherney property, it used to belong to the family of the same name, a once-prominent Warroad family. But decades ago the family moved away, and they recently have been using the place only as a summer retreat three to four weeks a year.
A prime piece of land, people tried bidding for the property over the years, according to Warroad Mayor Bob Marvin. But before the band purchased the property last year, the locals were told the land wasn't for sale.
The grand plan
Red Lake recently completed about a $1 million temporary expansion of its casino here in Warroad, purchased a 41-room Super 8 Motel and built an upscale restaurant that sits on the picturesque southern shore of Lake of the Woods two years ago.
Tribal officials say the purchase of the Cherney property, which could be home to a resort, marina and water park, is a natural expansion of their business presence in Warroad, a place locals call the best kept vacation secret in Minnesota.
Red Lake is betting on it.
By the time the band finishes its facelift of the older section of its Warroad casino this spring, the band will have spent about $5 million here in the last couple of years.
That leaves them with the casino, a restaurant and motel. Now they want to put the icing on the cake. King said the band could have a conceptualized drawing of its newest project done by the end of this year. They may begin building next year.
In addition to townhouses, a marina and water park, King said just about anything currently is on the table. Band officials have talked about a small-scale convention center, a snowmobiling track with machine rentals, a championship golf course and a charter fishing operation.
"We're trying to raise our expectations. ... Trying to give (people) more of a 'wow' factor rather than just a casino," King said. "We want to create places people want to go. We want people to say, 'We're going to come back.'"
So far, the plan has paid dividends. In just the first week the Warroad casino was open, King said they have seen three to four times the business as the old casino. If gamblers continue to pour into the casino, he adds the rest of the plan should unfold without a hitch.
Marv Hanson, Red Lake's top gaming official, said the band's moeny has been well invested here because once the townhouses are up and the other amenities are added, Warroad has the potential to become a regional center just as Brainerd or Bemidji.
"If we can't see that $5 million back in two years, we haven't been doing a very good job," he said.
Feeding the hunger
Red Lake's plans are representative of what is happening in American Indian gaming statewide, according to Minnesota Indian Gaming Association Executive Director John McCarthy.
Tribes that got into casino-style gaming in the early 1990s are building new amenities in addition to their casinos, trying to keep people interested.
For instance, even though the White Earth Band of Chippewa, Red Lake, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and the southern Minnesota tribes have exponentially added onto their casinos in recent years, most of the construction has been in restaurants, convention centers or hotels, especially hotels.
What hasn't changed very much is the number of casino machines in the state. McCarthy said about five years ago there were 12,000 to 13,000 slot machines statewide on reservations. Today, he said there maybe only a couple thousand new ones. The money is being invested in the amenities.
"That was something that was inevitable to come," he said. "There hasn't been any major increases in floor space for (gaming) machines. The trend is to look at the more family-oriented activities. I think that's what you'll continue to see in the future."
McCarthy describes the business relationship among the state's tribes as less cutthroat than the Pepsi-Coke war, but adds that it is a multi-billion dollar business, the stressing the word "business."
"It's a little bit unique," he said. "There is a lot of competition but it is a lot more respectful than corporations because the Indian tribes are government."
Red Lake's Hanson said the industry is moving away from what they call "grind joints" -- a tin shed with a bunch of slot machines and no other attractions -- to destination facilities.
Bands are doing it for two reasons, according to gaming officials. First, the gaming industry is extremely competitive and second, gamblers are looking for more. Therefore, Hanson said the casinos have to offer more to feed the gamblers' hunger.
"You have to have a nice environment, an environment in which people want to come to stay, have good food, a good time," Hanson said. "You have to keep them for more than two hours."
In Warroad, Red Lake hopes to soon keep them for days.
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