Local casino under way
Navajo Nation starts construction in Churchrock

By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

CHURCHROCK — Construction has begun on the Navajo Nation’s first casino and tribal officials celebrated with a groundbreaking ceremony Monday.

Phefelia Johnson, executive assistant for the tribe’s gaming office, said that after the ceremony crews will be moving “full speed ahead” with construction and the gaming office is expecting the casino to be up and running at the end of October.

It was called a “dream come true” by Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, who addressed the more than 100 VIPs and community members who gathered for the event at the site where the casino will be located off Route 66 in Churchrock.

Eddie Lockett, Navajo Gaming Regulatory Office director, said that he originally thought that dream would take only six months to achieve when he came on in 2005, but it has taken three years.

“Standing here, I will say to you there were times when I wondered whether or not the dream would ever materialize,” he said.

He added that it didn’t matter how long it has taken, “as long as we are successful.”

The city of Gallup is willing to do its part to make the casino a success with two projects that are expected to enhance the area around the site.

“I guess the word for the day is excitement,” Gallup Mayor Harry Mendoza said.

Mendoza said that within the next two to four weeks, the city is going to issue a Request For Proposals for the plan and design of an all-purpose arena that could possibly have a capacity of 3,000-4,000 permanent seats and 3,000-4,000 temporary seats. He said that it should be completed by this time next year.

A second city project will also complement the upcoming casino, Mendoza said.

“We want to connect the White Cliffs Road to the Red Rock Road so we can form a loop around this area,” he said.

The city needs to first get the rights of way to construct the road through several allotments and could use the help of Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly in negotiating , Mendoza said.

“That’s a doable project — to form a loop around this area. The more traffic that we can generate around here, the more traffic, the more customers to the casino,” Mendoza said.

Construction is being done on the approximately 27,000-square-foot casino by KCC Contractor, KCMAR Subcontractors and iina ba, Navajo Nation surveyors. Architects for the project are the national firm of JCJ Architecture and Dyron Murphy Architects, a Navajo-owned architectural firm based in Albuquerque . Architect consultants are Chavez-Grieves Consulting Engineers and Miller Engineering Consultants.

According to the Navajo Nation Office of the President, the casino is expected to have 300 slot machines, table games, entertainment and a small café.