Monday, February 21, 2005

Greektown Casino to Add More Parking


Greektown Casino

Gamblers going to Greektown Casino may have a pleasant surprise in store for them if the casino gets permission to build a new $10 million parking garage within a half-block of the structure.

Greektown Casino, the last of the three Detroit Casinos to be built, has no central parking structure; instead, its spots are scattered in a variety of lots, each a few blocks away. Compared to Motor City and MGM, who each have structures adjacent to their facilities, Greektown gamblers are forced to either park and walk to the building or to valet park, both of which are time-consuming and inconvenient for casino-goers.

Lagging behind Detroit's two other casinos in revenue for 2004, this article in the Detroit News stated that Greektown execs believe that the only way for the casino to stop losing marketshare is to provide more convenient parking for its customers.

If approved, Greektown's developers want to build a 650-space garage at the corners of Beaubien and East Fort. While the parking spaces will only be used for valet services of Greektown, its execs believe that it will drastically shorten the length of time customers wait for their vehicles. In addition, more customers will be able to utilize the casino's valet service.

Greektown currently has 4,550 parking spaces, but they are not all located in the same place.