Contractors were granted remodel permits last week to begin a $30 million renovation of the Belle of Baton Rouge’s hotel.
The project involves refurbishing all 10 floors of the hotel, including corridors, guest rooms and back-of-house areas. W.E. O’Neil Construction Co. is the contractor on the project.
The renovation is part of the downtown riverboat casino’s plans to move its gaming operations inland. Those plans, which were approved by the Louisiana Gaming Control Board in 2022, call for the casino’s gaming floor to be relocated inside its atrium.
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Legislation allowing Louisiana’s riverboat casinos to move up to 1,200 feet inland was approved by state lawmakers in 2018. Baton Rouge’s only other downtown casino, The Queen Baton Rouge, recently completed its own move inland.
The Belle of Baton Rouge also plans to rebrand once it moves, though details of that rebranding have yet to be announced.
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A representative told Daily Report last summer that the project would be geared toward giving the inland facility the feel of a “boutique-style casino.” Plans also call for adding a café and oyster bar to the site, with reopening tentatively scheduled for early 2025. The casino’s parent company, The Queen Casino & Entertainment Inc., also owns The Queen Baton Rouge.
The Belle of Baton Rouge’s hotel has been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
This story originally appeared in a March 11 issue of Daily Report. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.