Dec. 17–A new hotel adjacent to Mohegan Sun scheduled for an October 2016 opening is a "visible signal that we are committed to economic development," according to Kevin Brown, the Mohegan tribal chairman.

The $130 million, 400-room Earth Hotel is part of a long-term expansion plan at Mohegan Sun that casino officials say will meet the growing demand for hotel rooms in southeastern Connecticut.

Brown spoke before a tour of the construction site of the hotel for state elected officials and reporters.

He said the hotel will cater largely to mid-week convention groups visiting the casino. It is part of the tribe's attempt to diversify the services it owns beyond traditional casino gaming.

"We're not putting all our eggs in one basket," Brown said.

Casino officials have said the new hotel will meet a demand for rooms that they could not fill with its existing 1,200-room Sky Hotel, which opened in 2002.

"Our projections have been very modest in terms of occupancy, and we're still going to return a good revenue stream," Brown said Monday.

The new hotel was designed by the same architects that designed the Sky Hotel, Kohn Pedersen Fox. The A/Z Corp. of North Stonington has been hired as general contractor.

In the area that will serve as the lobby of the hotel, construction workers moved between building materials and the concrete frame of the building.

On the fourth floor, panes of glass sit ready to be installed.

Twelve of the 14 floors have been built, and the top floor likely will be finished next month, according to A/Z Corp. president and CEO Perry Lorenz.

The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority announced this year it would offer $123 million in bonds to build the hotel, which is modeled after the Sky Hotel.

Mohegan Sun had planned a second hotel as part of the casino's 2007 Project Horizon expansion, which was scaled back at the start of the economic recession.

The Earth Tower will feature outdoor patios and spaces where guests can sit outside, something that doesn't exist in the Sky Hotel or the casino. Kohn Pedersen Fox architect Vivian Huang said that was an intentional choice.

"There's not a lot of open space (in the Sky Hotel)," she said. "Here you'll be able to go out on the patio and drink coffee, or have a cocktail."

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