Opening 2010

Hotel Indigo, a franchise boutique brand owned by Atlanta-based InterContinental Hotels Group, will be built in the 97-year-old Tenoke Building at 161 Jefferson. Indigo rooms are typically $115-$185 per night, depending on the market, day of the week and season. The Memphis location will have 125 rooms on the building's 12, construction will start in 2009. The hotel will include local flavor by hosting events ranging from art shows to wine tastings to musical performances.

The estimated $15 million project is being developed by Batesville, Miss.-based Vibrant Hotels, Inc., a division of JVD Enterprises, Inc., and J.F. McAlls Investment, LLC. McAlls, which is owned by local African American businessmen Frank Wallace and Mario Thomas, bought the 134,124-square-foot building for $400,000 in August 2004. The building has been vacant since the mid '90s, but plans for the conversion into a hotel began in 2005.

Opening May 2009

Don Barden growing up, one of 13 children, got his 63 birthday gift of a lifetime yesterday, beating out two larger and better known competitors for the Pittsburgh casino on a historic day in Pennsylvania. The extraordinary $450 million new casino will cover more than 400,000 sq. ft. featuring world class amenities including 5 first class restaurants and boundless employment opportunities. The spectacular scale of the gaming area and facilities makes for an unparalleled atmosphere of excitement. Mr. Barden's Majestic Star Casino will be the only slots parlor in Pennsylvania owned by an African American. It will be built on a 17-acre site that lies between the science center and the West End Bridge. Investors in his venture include singer Smokey Robinson and Jerome Bettis, former Steelers running back.

Opening NA

The Moulin Rouge opened it's doors on May 24, 1955. It was the first desegregated/integrated casino in Las Vegas. It was built in West Las Vegas, where the African-American population was forced to live due to segregation. The Moulin Rouge's popularity was instant, attracting performers such as Pearl Bailey, Sammy Davis Junior, Nat King Cole, and Louis Armstrong. Even Frank Sinatra and George Burns would drop in after their shows on the Strip to perform and fraternize. The Moulin Rouge Hotel & Casino Corporation is been redevelop by a new joint venture group. The joint venture will develop a musical themed casino like the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino offering a new musical adventure from Soul, Rhythm and Blues, Jazz and Hip Hop to today's latest artists in a variety of other musical fields. "It will be an exciting and refreshing entertainment renaissance for Las Vegas, offering a little bit of nostalgia while appealing to the in-crowd," said Dale Scott, CEO of the Moulin Rouge.

Opening 2011

New York state officials have selected Danforth Development Partners to redevelop the long-vacant Victoria Theater on 125th Street, once Harlem’s largest and most elegant theater. Danforth plans to transform the Victoria, which sits a couple of doors east of its more well-known sister, the Apollo Theater, into a cultural center. The Victoria is to become a 317,570-square-foot mixed-use complex and underground parking garage. The development would include 40,500-square-foot cultural arts center, a 170- to 200-room hotel and a 91-unit residential condominium. In addition to the two theaters, the cultural center will also include 10,150 square feet for the primary use of the Jazz Museum in Harlem, and 4,000 square feet of office space for the Apollo Theater. A hotel brand has not been selected yet.

The total development will cost $145 million, with about $25 million going to the state, according to Danforth’s president M. Steven C. Williams, a third-generation Harlem resident who had been a partner in the redevelopment of 55 West 125th Street, the office tower that now houses former President Bill Clinton’s office.