Tulsa's Osage Hotel And Casino Opens Doors Wednesday

<p>Osage Casinos officially opened its new $160-million hotel and casino just north of downtown Tulsa on Wednesday.  A ribbon cutting ceremony was held at 10 a.m. and doors opened at noon at the facility located in the 900 block of West 36th Street North next to the Tisdale Parkway.</p>

Wednesday, August 29th 2018, 3:45 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa's Osage Hotel And Casino Opens Doors Wednesday

The $160 million Osage Hotel and Casino is officially open for business.

The ribbon was cut at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday at the facility just a few miles north of downtown in the 900 block of West 36th Street North.

The new facility has roughly a quarter of a million square feet of space, housing the hotel, casino, and event spaces.

The Tulsa venue includes a new gaming floor, event space, 141 room hotel, pool, and full-service brewery.

“It is great for the area and job growth,” said Bynum. “I’m really excited the Osage Nation chose this area to invest in.”

Representatives from the Osage Nation, the Tulsa Regional Chamber, and Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum were on hand for the ceremony. They say this project involved an unbelievable level of collaboration.

“Look what you can do when everyone has that vision and agrees we can move this boulder up a hill together,” declared Osage Casinos CEO Byron Bighorse.

They say this is Osage Casinos' largest location and will bring an estimated economic impact of $32 million annually. The project employs hundreds of people and the money made goes towards healthcare and education for members of the tribe.

While the physical location is a few miles north of downtown, the commercials and billboards refer to it as Tulsa’s newest downtown casino.

“We really feel like we are downtown,” said Bighorse. “We are an extension of downtown. That’s really a better statement to say.”

With all that’s happening downtown, it’s natural for development to start popping up outside of the IDL, and this is certainly one of the larger, more tangible examples of that.

“I see this, really, as downtown Tulsa and then you have this facility as, really, bookends for tremendous economic development opportunity between the two,” said Mayor Bynum.

The development is seen as a catalyst for future development in north Tulsa.

"We want to encourage future economic development,” said Bighorse. “I'm talking to developers to bring other businesses to compliment our casino and compliment this side of town. We are very excited for the future."

There will also be free shuttles back and forth from downtown to the casino for anyone who might want to experience both locales.