Judge’s ruling clears way for Kansas casino construction

The group behind the $70 million Kansas Crossing Casino & Hotel expects to restart construction this month near Pittsburg, following a favorable court ruling last week.

A Shawnee County District Court judge last week denied an appeal by a competing group, Castle Rock Casino & Resort, and the Cherokee County Commission for a review of the decision by the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission and two other state boards to award to the gaming license to Kansas Crossing.

The court ruled that reasonable minds could differ on which was the best proposal, but that the state boards’ decisions were not arbitrary, capricious or unreasonable.

Construction started in July on Kansas Crossing at U.S. 400 and U.S. 69 just south of Pittsburg, but halted in early September because of the legal challenge.

It will have 625 slots, 16 table games, a 120-room hotel, a 125-seat restaurant, a 400-seat events center and a 3,000-capacity amphitheater outside.

The lead investor is Topeka commercial developer Bruce Christenson, but the group includes many of the same people who won the bids for the Dodge City and Mulvane casinos. The entity that will operate the casino is JNB Gaming, based in Dubuque, Iowa.

Castle Rock Casino, led by Wichita businessmen Brandon and Rodney Steven, was to be valued at $144.5 million and sit in Cherokee County, a few feet from the Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri state lines.

Messages left for Rodney Steven, and the group’s lawyers were not returned Monday.

Christenson said the group will restart construction even if the Steven brothers decide to appeal last week’s court ruling. The Kansas Crossing group has gotten several extensions to its deadline to break ground.

It is set to open in March 2017.

“The Court’s decision is great news for the people of Pittsburg, Crawford County and the region,” Christenson wrote in a statement. “It’s certainly great news for the hundreds of people who will benefit from jobs during construction and the hundreds more who will benefit from permanent jobs once Kansas Crossing opens next year.”

This story was originally published April 4, 2016 at 8:32 AM with the headline "Judge’s ruling clears way for Kansas casino construction."