Urban One teams with Colonial Downs owner on $517 million casino resort in Richmond

A Black-owned Washington media company is teaming with the owner of a potential rival to propose a $517 million casino resort and live music theater in South Richmond on property now owned by Philip Morris USA, one of the city’s biggest employers.

Urban One, owner of four radio stations targeting predominantly Black audiences in Richmond, will announce on Tuesday that it is partnering with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment, the owner of Colonial Downs Group and a growing chain of gaming emporiums in Virginia, to operate the casino as part of the 300,000-square-foot complex, according to a source close to the project.

Urban One plans to build the project on 100 acres owned by Altria Group Inc., the Henrico County-based owner of Philip Morris, at the Bells Road exit on Interstate 95, where Walmsley Boulevard meets Commerce Road just south of the tobacco company’s signature cigarette manufacturing complex.

The Urban One partnership with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment would take Colonial Downs out of the running for a potential license to build and operate a casino in Richmond. The city also expects to receive an application by its deadline Monday afternoon from the Pamunkey Indian Tribe for a $350 million South Richmond casino resort it proposed 13 months ago.

Read more: https://richmond.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/urban-one-teams-with-colonial-downs-owner-on-517-million-casino-resort-in-richmond/article_12f696b0-685c-5b7d-b8d4-d714aa7d1ba4.html