Midwest Casino Bets on Vegas-style Luxury Hotel
Lucien Lagrange Architects bring Vegas design to Michigan City riverboat casino complex

by Russell Boniface
Associate Editor

How do you . . . add a luxe, Las Vegas-style hotel to an existing Midwestern riverboat casino and motel?

Summary: Chicago-based Lucien Lagrange Architects (LLA) is currently expanding the Blue Chip Casino riverboat and motel in Michigan City, Ind., with a 24-story, glass and aluminum curtain-walled casino hotel. The new, $125 million, 300,000-square-foot luxury hotel will add Vegas-style architecture to the Blue Chip Casino complex, which overlooks Lake Michigan 50 miles east of Chicago. The Blue Chip Casino is owned and operated by Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming Corporation. Construction of the new tower began in March 2007, and completion is scheduled for late 2008.

What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas. The financial success in Michigan City, Ind., of the $170 million Blue Chip Casino riverboat and its 75-room motel helped owner Boyd Gaming decide to expand the site with a new Las Vegas-style luxury hotel. Boyd Gaming chose Lucien Lagrange Architects, designer of luxury hotels and residences, to serve as designer. The new building will overlook Lake Michigan and have a blue-tinted glass and aluminum curtain wall exterior. A large, metal porte cochere will connect the tower with the existing riverboat casino and motel. Once complete, the new tower will provide 270 rooms and 30 suites.

Vegas-style architecture
LLA principal Lucien Lagrange, AIA, says that Boyd Gaming, which bought the Blue Chip Casino, wanted to stay competitive in the gaming market. “A year ago, Boyd was anticipating quite a bit of competition from an Indian reservation casino that opened a few months ago, so they wanted to attract gamblers to their own facility and not lose too much market share.”

The new tower and porte cochere needed to be exciting and recall Las Vegas

Lagrange explains that the new tower and porte cochere needed to be exciting and recall Las Vegas, especially with the client being from Las Vegas. He points out that the Blue Chip Casino tower hotel will be clearly visible in Michigan City, where the current tallest building is a power plant chimney. “We thought a glass tower would be more Las Vegas, and the setting, close to the lake, would make it very visible in the skyline, as there is nothing tall around there. From the water, you will see this shimmering glass tower in blue.”

The porte cochere connection an ace in the hole
One pressing design issue, describes Lagrange, was what to do with the existing riverboat casino’s atrium entry space. “We couldn’t have it look like, ‘this is new, this is old,’ and we didn’t want to redo the whole casino. The key was to blend the new hotel with the riverboat at the large, four-lane porte cochere, which will be well-lit and tastefully done, with a lot of glass. You will be able to see through the entry all the way to the riverboat. The porte cochere won’t be corny like during the old Las Vegas.”

The key was to blend the new hotel with the riverboat at the large, four-lane porte cochere

The façade of the existing entry pavilion will also be redone to harmonize with the glass façade of the new tower. The hotel’s amenities will include a 10,000-square-foot fitness spa, a major restaurant, nightlife space, and additional meeting and convention space. “There is even talk of an extension of another 300 rooms,” adds Lagrange.