River Downs applies for Slots

[CoastersRZ]

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120702/BIZ/307020030/River-Downs-applies-slots?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Regardless on your stance on gambling, the requirement to invest $125 million for the slots facility could drasctically change the way that Riverdowns looks in the future, including how Kellogg avenue looks down by Coney. I wonder where they would build this facility, and how it would impact parking for Riverbend concerts.

[pilotank]

http://news.cincinna...|text|FRONTPAGE

Regardless on your stance on gambling, the requirement to invest $125 million for the slots facility could drasctically change the way that Riverdowns looks in the future, including how Kellogg avenue looks down by Coney. I wonder where they would build this facility, and how it would impact parking for Riverbend concerts.

One thing I noticed was how clean RD's is kept now.

Also, they actually open it up for pedestrian traffic for conert goers

who park in the RD's parking lot.

One unsubstantiated rumor is that RD's want to buy part of

CI to the west of the race track:(.

Hope this is not true.

pilotank

[Oldiesmann]

The current owners of River Downs have only owned it for about a year and a half, but Coney and River Downs have co-existed peacefully for almost 90 years, through numerous ownership changes on both sides. I doubt that rumor's true, especially with River Bend being there.

[CoastersRZ]

The new owner`s of River Downs have kept pretty quiet. I had heard a rumor that they were thinking about not letting concert goers park in their lots, which would pose issues since sold out concerts generate more cars than Coney can accomodate in their lots.

It will be interesting to see how River Downs integrates the slots into their facility and if they end up building a parking garage. I wonder what time frame they are thinking about.

As a history note, back when River Downs first opened, it was known as Coney Island Racetrack. But legal issues over gambling forces Coney ownership to divest the race track and focus solely on the amusement park facility. And technically, no Coney property abuts Riverdowns property. Their is a small flagpole of Riverbend property (just wide enough for a drive aisle in the parking lot, that runs from Riverbend out to Kellogg Avenue.

[Oldiesmann]

I also don't see where they'd put all those cars if Pinnacle chose to not let concertgoers use their lot. The only other place anywhere near there with a ton of parking is Lunken Airport, and at that point you'd need to add a shuttle to take people from the airport to Riverbend and back (which would be a bit of a hassle considering what traffic looks like after the concert ends).

I'm not sure why they think a parking garage would help things at all. It would reduce existing parking until the garage is complete (unless they have some undeveloped land somewhere), and it would only make the traffic issues worse after a concert or other major event.

[CoastersRZ]

There is a field across from Riverdowns (down by the stables) that is used for the busiest of concerts. I think that land belongs to Riverdowns, but am unsure of that. It will be interesting to see what their plans entail for the property.