“As with any business, you want to give people as many reasons as possible to come and you want to create new customers,” McCarthy said, adding that Viejas has among its amenities an extensive outlet retail center, a bowling alley, a year-round roller/ice skating rink, and convention space. Properties are adding an increasing number of amenities and upping their luxury quotient in the pursuit of not just local gamblers, but foodies, spa seekers, conventioneers, concert-goers and visitors from L.A., Orange County, Arizona and Mexico. But as one of five casino expansion projects - of varying size and expense - currently under way in the San Diego area, Viejas is launching its own salvo in an unprecedented casino resort arms race that is estimated to be costing about $1 billion combined.

McCartney declined to give the cost of Viejas’ full build out, which is expected to be finished in early 2018. The capacity has also doubled to about 3,000 for standing room general admission tickets. The 52,000-square-foot venue, located between the two existing hotel towers, is more than three times the size of its previous one. Viejas also recently announced the revival of its popular outdoor concert series, kicking off with country star Martina McBride on July 3. “What we’re trying to do is create an environment that’s communal, that’s eclectic, that’s attractive to people like me at 7 p.m., and then with music later, attractive to others after 9 p.m., McCartney said. The three new food and beverage concepts are a gourmet coffee cafe, a 130-seat pan-Asian restaurant with a full bar and indoor-outdoor seating, and a signature 250-seat restaurant with communal areas, a lounge and a cooking display area. In an interview before the ceremony, McCartney said the new pool area will be a respite for adults who are registered guests at any of the hotel towers, while children will be welcome at the existing pool. The chairman was coy on the project’s specifics, admitting that he was withholding them, but he promised those gathered for the occasion that “you’ll be awed and impressed.” “Who would have thought in 2011, (when) we had a dream of building our first hotel tower, who would have thought that today, in 2017, we would be gathered together once more for our third topping off ceremony,” Welch said. Robert Welch, Jr., Viejas Tribal Council chairman, then raised a glass of sparkling wine to toast the milestone. At the topping off, a Swinerton Builders crane slowly lifted the beam to the hotel’s top floor, with its arrival punctuated by the explosion of fireworks.

Hotel amenites at viejas casino