SPRINGFIELD — As the state’s first resort casino with expansive gambling and entertainment options was launched Friday with a Las Vegas-style flourish, Kringle Candle of Bernardston was among the businesses that opened at the $960 million complex.
After lining the streets for a procession through downtown Springfield that featured the Budweiser Clydesdale horses and other entertainment, thousands of people headed inside to gamble at MGM Springfield, considered the first of its kind in the state.
The complex also includes a hotel, restaurants, entertainment and other upscale retail shops. The complex occupies a corner of downtown that was hit hard by a major tornado in 2011, and city officials hailed the project as a significant step forward in Springfield’s economic renewal.
The Kringle Emporium at the casino is Kringle Candle’s second retail location, after its original store in Bernardston.
“It’s a great opportunity for us to get in front of a lot of people,” said Meseydi Machado, sales director at Kringle Candle, in a previous statement.
The Emporium features a retail store similar to the one in Bernardston, and a cafe-style restaurant associated with the Farm Table restaurant in Bernardston.
The space is in the building that was formerly an old church. MGM moved the building from its original location to make way for the casino.
“We wanted to preserve it,” MGM Springfield Spokesman Saverio Mancini said when the plans were announced in September.
Kringle Candle founder Michael Kittredge III was also excited about the location.
“This is a beautiful, historic building to showcase Kringle products,” Kittredge said at the same time.
Kringle Candle was founded in 2009 by Kittredge and opened its manufacturing operation and retail campus in October 2010. The company subsequently expanded with its retail store, a gift store called the Country barn, a Chocolate Cottage and the Farm Table restaurant.
Kittredge is the son of Michael Kittredge II, the founder of Yankee Candle.
Here’s a look at some of the game-changing MGM casino’s numbers:
7: Years since Massachusetts legalized casino gambling in 2011, paving the way for MGM and other casino companies to seek state gambling licenses.
3 years and 5 months: Amount of time from the project’s March 24, 2015, groundbreaking to its official Aug. 24 opening.
$960 million: Total project budget, which is higher than the early estimates of $850 million.
3,000: People employed on opening day.
35 percent: Number of those who are Springfield residents.
$25 million: The amount Springfield is expected to receive annually from MGM once the casino opens its doors. (The city also received a $15 million upfront payment from the company.)
14.5: Roughly the number of acres the development covers, or about three city blocks.
250: Rooms in the casino’s five-floor boutique hotel.
2,550 and 120: Number of slot machines and table games, respectively, on the casino’s 125,000-square-foot (11,612 square meters) gambling floor.
200 yards: Roughly the distance a more than 130-year-old historic brick church was moved to accommodate the casino development. It now anchors the casino’s public plaza.
$25,000: Cost of an “Indian Sidecar” at the casino’s Commonwealth Bar. The drink is made with a cognac from 1901 and includes an actual motorcycle by Indian Motorcycle. The company was founded in Springfield in — you guessed it — 1901.
4 a.m.: Last call for alcohol, at least if you’re still gambling. Casino bars and restaurants will still honor the state’s 2 a.m. cutoff.
1891: The year basketball was invented in Springfield by gym teacher James Naismith. The sport’s local roots figure heavily into the casino’s sports bar, Tap.
2: Number of U.S. presidents who stayed at the historic Chandler Hotel, the facade of which was incorporated into the casino’s steakhouse. The presidents were James Polk and James Buchanan, the nation’s 11th and 15th presidents, respectively.
The Native American tribes that operate Connecticut’s Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun resorts also are proposing a Hartford-area casino to directly compete with MGM Springfield.
MGM Springfield president Michael Mathis called the opening “pretty magical.”
This article contains reporting by the Associated Press.