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Steel's up on MGM's grand casino

Date Posted: July 21 2006

DETROIT -The structural steel on the MGM Grand Casino was topped out June 23, creating a milestone for a huge, fast-moving construction project that's one of Michigan's largest.

Midwest Steel and about 60 iron workers from Local 25 placed about 8,700 tons of steel in the casino, which is going up north of Michigan Avenue at Third Street. The first steel was set Jan. 30.

"It's been a great job; very fast-paced," said Mark Dungan, general foreman for Midwest Steel. "All the trades out here are getting along well and are doing a great job."

Getting the steel erected at the casino is only one part of a construction project that will provide MGM Grand with a "permanent" casino in Detroit. MGM's temporary casino, housed in a renovated government building, was built six years years ago.

The new 100,000-square-foot casino is being built on a former parking lot aside DTE Energy's headquarters tower. Together with a 17-story, 400-room hotel, the complex will have a $765 million price tag. It will include a parking deck, shops, restaurants, a spa and other amenities. It is the largest of the three Detroit casinos, which are all going forward with new development plans.

By comparison, Ford Field cost about $500 million and Comerica Park cost $350 million.

"We're very happy with the progress," said Gary Wolfe, "we're within a day of the schedule we established. This has to be the fastest design-build job this area has ever seen." So fast, that many interior areas have yet to be designed. They will be - and the facility is expected to open in 2008.

The hotel and casino will employ 3,500 workers - which are 1,000 more than the existing casino.

MGM Grand along with Tre Builders are managing the construction. Mark Rushlow of Local 25, Tre Builders project superintendent in charge of steel/precast, said for him, the use of the evergreen tree in this topping-out ceremony signifies "that no lives were lost due to the conscious efforts and the skilled training of all the men and women who worked on this job."

MIDWEST STEEL, MGM Grand, Tre Builders, iron workers and operating engineers celebrated the topping out of the new MGM Grand Casino in Detroit on June 23.