MotorCity Casino Hotel is a casino and hotel in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

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. It was opened in December 1999 and is one of three casino hotels in the city. There are four hotels in the

Detroit–Windsor The Detroit–Windsor region is an international transborder agglomeration comprising the American city of Detroit, Michigan, the Canadian city of Windsor, Ontario, and the Detroit River between them. The Detroit–Windsor area acts as a cri ...

area, including the Ontario-owned

Caesars Windsor Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada is one of four casinos in the Detroit–Windsor area and was opened in 1994 on the waterfront of the Detroit River. Owned by the Government of Ontario (through the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporati ...

. The $825 million MotorCity complex has a historic building that housed the Wagner Baking Company, makers of the brand

Wonder Bread Wonder Bread is a brand of sliced bread which originated in the United States in 1921 and was one of the first to be sold pre-sliced nationwide in 1930. The brand is currently owned by Flowers Foods in the United States. History The Taggart B ...

. The complex houses a 100,000 square-foot casino with approximately 2,800 slot machines, 59 table games, and two poker rooms; a 13,000-square-foot spa; 67,000 square feet of meeting and convention space; Sound Board, a live music theater with a capacity of 2,400 people; and a luxury hotel with 400 guest rooms and suites. Opened by

Mandalay Resort Group Mandalay Resort Group (formerly Circus Circus Enterprises) was an American hotel and casino operator based in Paradise, Nevada. Its major properties included Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur and Circus Circus, as well as half of the Monte Carlo. ...

, MotorCity Casino Hotel was later purchased by

Marian Ilitch Marian Bayoff Ilitch (born January 7, 1933) is an American billionaire businesswoman, and the co-founder of Little Caesars Pizza with her late husband, Mike Ilitch. As of March 2018, Ilitch was one of the world's seven richest women, according t ...

of IH Gaming (Detroit Entertainment, LLC).

Architecture

The building, located on Grand River Avenue at the Lodge Freeway (M-10), was designed c.1915 by architect

Walter W. Ahlschlager Walter William Ahlschlager (July 19, 1887 – March 28, 1965) was a 20th-century American architect. After being located in Chicago for many years, he established his office in Dallas, Texas in 1940. He died in Dallas. Noted designs *Davis Thea ...

, who later designed the

Peabody Hotel The Peabody Memphis is a historic luxury hotel in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, opened in 1925. The hotel is known for the "Peabody Ducks" that live on the hotel rooftop and make daily treks to the lobby. The Peabody is a member of Historic Hot ...

in Memphis in 1926 and New York City's Roxy Theatre in 1927, among other notable structures. As part of the property's renovation as a casino, the

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terra ...

elements of the former bread bakery were restored to their original condition, preserving the signature features of the building.

Chip Foose Chip Foose (born October 13, 1963) is an American automobile designer, artist, and star of Velocity's reality television series ''Overhaulin. Life and career Foose began working on automobiles at age seven for his father's company, Project ...

, a custom car designer and television personality, was a member of the design team. He is credited as instrumental in the property's look. Foose's influence is reflected strongly in the sweeping roof design, a 304-foot-long stainless steel undulating ribbon produced by Quality Metalcraft Inc., under the direction of Michael Chetcuti. It is considered a reference to Detroit's automotive history. Foose says it was inspired by the door molding on a 1957

Chevrolet Bel Air The Chevrolet Bel Air is a full-size car produced by Chevrolet for the 1950–1975 model years. Initially, only the two-door hardtops in the Chevrolet model range were designated with the Bel Air name from 1950 to 1952. With the 1953 model year, ...

. The roof ranges in height from 3.5 feet to 10 feet and weighs over 181 tons.

Casino

The casino features more than 100,000 square feet of gaming space. It includes approximately 2,800 slot machines (160 of them located in smoke-free gaming areas); approximately 59 table games; and two poker rooms. The interior of the casino is notable for Foose's design of the ceiling, which features large, extruded aluminum-like beams and thousands of multi-color LEDs that can display video with more than 256,000 colors. The style is referred to as "Future Retro," and the ceiling resembles a giant custom car radiator. Other elements of design referring to Detroit's automotive heritage include hot rod flame carpeting. The entrances to the smoke-free slot room resemble the front-end grilles of a 1938

Buick Century Buick Century is the model name that was used by Buick for a line of upscale full-size cars from 1936 to 1942 and 1954 to 1958, as well as from 1973 to 2005 for mid-size cars. The first Buick Century debuted as the Series 60 then renamed in 19 ...

and a 1939

Lincoln-Zephyr The Lincoln-Zephyr is a line of luxury cars that was produced by the Lincoln division of Ford from 1936 until 1942. Bridging the gap between the Ford V8 DeLuxe and the Lincoln Model K (in both size and price), it expanded Lincoln to a seco ...

. In a nod to Detroit's Motown and other musical roots, the pillars of the Amnesia event space are designed to resemble bass clefs. The five-bar musical staff is used as a design element on items ranging from slot machine bases to signage throughout the property. Zebrawood, a wood often used in guitar construction, is incorporated into the hotel lobby and guestrooms.

Sound Board

With a capacity of 2,400, Sound Board is a performance venue, and Detroit's only casino theater. Since opening with a concert by Detroit native

Anita Baker Anita Denise Baker (born January 26, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. She is one of the most popular singers of soulful ballads, especially renowned for her work during the height of the quiet storm period in the 1980s. Starting her career ...

on October 23, 2008, Sound Board has hosted entertainment and musical performers. The theater also hosts events such as live boxing and major product launches. The sound, lighting, and video equipment includes a d&b Line Array Sound System with Yamaha PM7 Rivage audio consoles, an HES Road Hog Full Boar lighting console, more than 50 moving lights and DL-3 lighting fixtures.

Hotel

Opened in November 2007, the MotorCity Casino Hotel has 400 rooms and suites.

Dining

MotorCity offers a variety of dining options:

Events and conventions

MotorCity has 67,000 square feet of conference and banquet space.

Photo gallery

Image:MotorCityCasinoalongGrandRiver.jpg, Chrome panels accent original tile work on the Grand River façade Image:MC Casino Grand River Detroit1.jpg, Casino details designed to resemble a classic 1950s tailfin-style car Image:MotorCitycasinoandHotel.jpg, Looking southwest with casino on the left and the high-rise hotel addition to the right Image:Motor_City_Casino_Length.png, The casino complex looking west

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Motorcity Casino 1999 establishments in Michigan 2007 establishments in Michigan Commercial buildings in Detroit Casinos in Michigan Resorts in Michigan Performing arts centers in Michigan Skyscraper hotels in Detroit Economy of Detroit Tourist attractions in Detroit Casino hotels Mandalay Resort Group Casinos completed in 1999 Hotel buildings completed in 2007