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When the Turning Stone Casino first opened in July 1993, it wasn’t much more than a concrete building that held various games of chance plus a juice bar that served up chicken wings. That was a couple thousand yesterdays ago, however, as the king-sized resort has since lured customers aplenty to drive off the New York State Thruway’s Exit 33 to take in the Verona complex. Next July, in celebration of Turning Stone’s 20th birthday, a new entertainment facility is slated to open its doors. And unless someone comes up with an even more appropriate moniker, its name will be (what else?) Exit 33.
Oneida Indian Nation representative and Nation Enterprises CEO Ray Halbritter made the announcement during an outdoor press conference Nov. 8 in the parking lot of Lava, the resort’s dance-fevered nightclub. It was an uncommonly frigid November morning, as wind-chill factors kept journalists huddled close to each other inside the tent where Halbritter and various movers and shakers held court, such as Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente Jr. and representatives from Syracuse’s Hayner Hoyt construction firm and Skaneateles’ Ramsgard Architectural Design. Yet it seemed like the hundred-plus media types and business suits inside and outside the tent were excited by the announcement; even a flock of geese overhead honked their approval.
Exit 33, with an estimated $25 million price tag, will offer a quartet of music options, including a country-type roadhouse, a rock’n’roll venue, a piano bar and a swanky lounge area, each to have names to be selected at a later date. The project will take 200-odd construction people to build the place, which will then be staffed by up to 100 employees, adding to the Oneida Nation Enterprises’ current weekly payroll of more than 4,500. The new clubs’ combined booking mix will include both local and national acts, supplying more diversions to go along with the resort’s other entertainment spots such as the Showroom and Event Center. Exit 33’s construction follows on the heels of the recent completion of the TS Steakhouse that now rests atop the resort’s Tower Hotel; as a result of the new dining attraction, the ground-level Forest Grill has shuttered.
The venue, which at press time did not include an estimate of the building’s actual square footage, will occupy an area that currently holds a loading dock and will jut out on land that is close to the parade of nearby power lines. According to Jeremy Thurston, president of Hayner Hoyt, “The plan is that we’re going to be within about 22 feet closer to the {Turning Stone’s} building, so the power lines will not move for this project. The main entrance will be coming from inside the casino floor, but there will be a separate entrance that comes off the {outside} drive near Lava. There won’t really be any sacrifice of space inside the {resort} building; there’s some back-of-the-house stuff that will move out of the way so we can make the connection from the new building to the existing building, but I don’t think they’re losing any operational space inside.”
Along with the hope for another mild winter, construction is imminent. “Fencing has gone up, our trailers are on site and the really heavy stuff should start in about two weeks,” Thurston said. “This is a great project, it really is exciting. We were here 20 years ago when it was a field; we opened the original casino as the contractor so this is kind of a homecoming for us.”
Indeed, while there was a ceremonial groundbreaking that featured an earth mover digging into a mound of grass, there was evidence that the project was already under way, especially the series of other holes previously mined by the mover (it’s doubtful that the veteran construction worker who piloted the machine needed practice) and a perimeter that was marked as something of a stay-away zone. As for the young ladies who held aloft the large architectural renderings of Exit 33’s clubs for photo opportunities, they were dressed more for an evening on the town instead of enduring the frosty outdoors, yet managed to keep smiling despite chattering teeth. One sign for the planned country venue featured a mechanical bull in action; if a politician clambered aboard the beast, the phrase “throwing the bull” might be redundant.
