Emerald Queen Casino Events 2020

/ Comments off

2024 East 29th Street 98421 Tacoma, WA, US All the events happening at Emerald Queen Casino 2020-2021 Discover all upcoming concerts scheduled in 2020-2021 at Emerald Queen Casino. Emerald Queen Casino hosts concerts for a wide range of genres. THE EMERALD QUEEN HOTEL & CASINO AT FIFE. 5700 Pacific Highway East Fife, WA 98424.

Puyallup Tribe’s New Emerald Queen Casino

Posted on: January 30, 2020

Puyallup Tribal News staff writer


Emerald queen casino events calendar

The sounds of construction – deep rumbles, clanks and beep-beep-beeps of heavy equipment – are happening outside the Puyallup Tribe’s new Emerald Queen Casino.


Inside the building, the noises are a little more muted – zings of drills, swishes of furniture moving furniture and spritzing of cleaning bottles.


Crews are knocking out punch list items for the Puyallup Tribe’s new 310,000-square-foot casino, which is set to open soon.


How soon? Tribal officials aren’t quite ready to give an opening date. Right now, it’s “early 2020.” As with any major construction project, equipment tests, final permits and many other details will play into the new casino’s opening day.

The Puyallup Tribal News recently took a hard hat tour of the site, led by Emerald Queen General Manager Frank Wright.

“There are very few casinos, even in Las Vegas, that are nicer than this one,” he said.


Located at 2920 East R St., Tacoma, Wash., the nearly $400 million facility boasts glamour, glitz and state-of-the-art technology. It is projected to pump $1.5 billion into the local economy during the next decade.


“The casino will be a vibrant touch to this whole city,” said Puyallup Tribal Vice Chairman Bill Sterud. “We are turning it into a tourist destination.”


The casino was designed by Cuningham Group Architecture, and general contractor Absher-Kitchell is overseeing construction. The Wenaha Group is serving as the owner’s representative.


The casino will feature:

  • Five restaurants, including a small café, a fine dining restaurant, a buffet, a coffee shop, and a sports bar. The restaurants are named the Summit Sports Bar, the Riverbank Buffet, the Waterway Deli, puyaləpabš café and the Paddle Wheel Coffee & Bakery.
  • Puyallup tribal member traditional and contemporary artwork, including murals, paintings and architectural elements featuring Coast Salish design.
  • A 2,000-seat, 21,000-square-foot concert venue and event center.
  • Environmentally friendly building elements. For example, the concrete that was used contains a recycled material that was diverted from landfills, and the building was designed to meet or beat the state’s energy code requirements. One of the biggest ways the building is reducing its carbon footprint is through its state-of-the-art HVAC system. The system is designed to take advantage of natural air flow and movements, so it removes smoke from the building without using as much energy as a traditional HVAC system.
  • An enormous LED screen, visible from Interstate 5. The screen is 32 by 147 feet.
  • Parking galore. In addition to a four-story parking garage attached to the casino, the tribe is building parking for an additional 700 vehicles in the adjacent 150-200-room hotel that’s under construction next door. (The hotel is set to open in mid-2020.) Both garages will have a total capacity of more than 1,300 vehicles.

Planning and infrastructure work for the Puyallup Tribe Emerald Queen Casino began 15 years ago, Wright said.

Queen

“We could have jumped in and built this casino a lot earlier but we wouldn’t have been able to build something as nice,” he said. “We stayed in a tent quite a few years and made a lot of money so we could prove to the lenders, the banks, that we had the ability to run a big operation.”


With two locations in Fife and along Interstate 5 in Tacoma, the Emerald Queen employs nearly 2,200 people. The new casino is expected to generate about 230 more jobs, and the new hotel is expected to add 35 jobs.


The new casino will replace the current Tacoma I-5 casino, which is a former bingo hall with three large adjoining tents. The Fife location will remain open.


“This is the culmination of a lot of work, of a lot of amazing people over many years,” said Puyallup Tribal Chairman David Z. Bean. “It’s the realization of their vision just to bring a first-class facility for our gamers here in the Northwest.”


Officials are planning to hold a soft opening for the tribe’s members. Council member Annette Bryan said she wants it to be a big party, to celebrate a project that involved tribal community input and involvement.


“I’m anxious to get it open,” Sterud added. “And I am proud of all of the work that has been done to reach this point.”


Puyallup Tribal member Katie Manzanares contributed to this report.


By the numbers:

$1.5 billion: The economic impact the Puyallup Tribe’s new casino is expected to bring to the area during the next decade.

$372 million: The new casino’s estimated construction cost.

310,000 square feet: The size of the new casino.

21,000 square feet: The size of the new 2,000-seat event center inside the casino.

2,450: Estimated number of Emerald Queen employees, once the new casino and hotel open.

15 years: The amount of time it took to make the new Emerald Queen a reality.

Brian Halquist Productions will kick of its 2020 season with the 125th installment of the Battle at the Boat boxing series on Friday at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Wash.

A 10-round welterweight fight between Andre Keys (12-1) and Dannie Williams (23-3) will main event the six-bout card, which will also feature a semi main event between Antonio Neal and Niko McFarland and an undercard clash between undefeated fighters Jose Cervantes and Cody Brown.

“Andre has won 11 straight fights and is coming off his first main event win. This is easily the biggest fight of his career,” promoter Brian Halquist said. “Williams is a veteran who has been in the ring with some of the bet fighters in the world. This should be a thrilling main event.”

Tickets are available through the EQC box office and all Ticketmaster Outlets. Preliminary bouts will start at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Keys, a native of Tacoma, defeated Manuel Monteiro by decision at Battle at the Boat 124 on Nov. 9. It marked the first time Keys went 10rounds during his career.

“(This showed me) Andre is ready to go 10 strong rounds under the pressure of his home crowd. He has always been poised and patient in his temperament, and I think the extra rounds allowed that layers of his game to showcase,”said Keys’ trainer Nathaniel Glenn. “I was most pleased with his 10-round fitness and stamina. He looked very professional.”

After opening his career 12-0, Williams suffered his first defeat against Washingtonian Eloy Perez in a bout for the vacant World Boxing Council United States featherweight champion on Sept. 12, 2009. He responded to the loss by reeling off nine consecutive victories, highlighted by a win over Manuel Leyva for the interim World Boxing Council Continental Americas lightweight title in 2011, before losing to Henry Lundy in 2012.

Williams built his record to 22-2 before losing to John Molina Jr in 2013 in a fight for the vacant World Boxing Organization NABO lightweight title.

It marked his last fight since returning to the ring in April when he defeated Ronald Rivas by majority decision in his hometown of St.Louis.

Now with nine full months of training, the ring rust is gone, and Williams looks to climb back into title contention. A win over rising star Keys would go a long way in making that a reality.

“My opponent is a former top contender with 18 KOs to his record,” Keys said. “He has good skills and a lot of experience. I will be in top shape and look to be a technical boxer on fight night.”

Headlining the undercard will be a 4-round welterweight bout between Cervantes (1-0) and Brown (1-0).

Fighting on the undercard of Battle atthe Boat 124, Cervantes notched his first career victory by defeating avery-game Nikolas Vasquez by second-round knockout.

Emerald Queen Casino Events 2020 2021

“Winning my first professional fight was amazing. I felt accomplished. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for several years now. For one reason or another I wasn’t able to go pro, but we made it,” Cervantes said. “And winning by knock out on the second round, what a night.”

He didn’t have much time to celebrate the win, however, as a little more than an hour after he won, Cervantes was rushing to the hospital to be by his wife’s side as she delivered their third child.

“It was an amazing day. That morning I took her to the hospital, stayed with her hoping the baby would come out, but it didn’t,” Cervantes said. “I stayed until I had to leave for the fight. I got to the casino got ready for the fight, fought, won and smashed out to the hospital. As soon as I was entering the freeway, she sends me a picture that he was born. It was a baby boy we named Ezekiel. An amazing night, man. I won my first pro fight and my third baby was born.”

Cervantes will face Brown, who also picked up his first career victory by knock out on the Battle at the Boat 124 card. Brown, who fights out of Chicago, defeated Dylan Blakesley by first-round KO.

“I didn’t get a chance to see him fight since I had to rush out the building,” Cervantes said about Brown. “But I prepare for every fight like if I’m going into war, like if I’m fighting for a championship belt. I never take it light. So, I’ll be more than prepared for whatever he brings.”

Additional undercard bouts include a170-pound fight between Seattle’s Juan Jackson and Joe Aguilar and a 136-pound contest between Louis De Alba and Marco Garcia.

“Luis is a very talented boxer with a lot of experience and knowledge in boxing,” said Francisco Reyes, De Alba’s trainer. “Luis has been working with us for a few months now. What we like about Luis is that he listens to us and works hard in the gym. We’ve talked about his previous fights and what we can do to get the wins. We’re definitely working on that and having the sparring that Luis has now will make a difference in his performance. He’s looking to win for sure.”

Garcia made his pro debut at Battle at the Boat 124, fighting William Parra Smith, who entered the fight having knocked out three out of his last five opponents, to a split draw.

“I was actually super nervous heading into that fight,” Garcia said. “Normally, I’m not like that when I get in there, but with it being my debut it did make me nervous.”

Despite the butter flies, Garcia exited the final with one crystal clear thought.

“The moment I got through the ropes I knew I wanted to get back in there,” Garcia said. “I asked to get me on the very next card.”

Emerald Queen Casino Concerts


Battle at the Boat 125 Card

Friday, Jan.17, 2020

10 Round Main Event – Welterweight

Andre Keys (12-1) vs. Dannie Williams (23-3)

6 Round Semi-Main Event – Welterweight

145-pounds: Antonio Neal (5-12) vs. Niko McFarland (4-5-2)

4 Round Undercard Bouts

170-pounds: Juan Jackson (2-2) vs. Joe Aguilar (0-0)

Emerald Queen Casino Events 2020 Schedule

136-pounds: Louis De Alba (0-3) vs. Marco Garcia (0-0-1)

144-pounds: Jose Cervantes (1-0) vs. Cody Brown (1-0)

Emerald Queen New Casino

Heavyweights: Nick Mills (2-0) vs. Michael Johnson (0-0)