Norfolk Casino Construction Begins in Earnest Over Four Years After Voter Approval

Posted on: February 18, 2025, 09:44h. 

Last updated on: February 18, 2025, 10:03h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • Construction on the Norfolk casino is underway
  • Norfolk voters approved the casino in November 2020
  • Boyd Gaming is now leading the project

Construction of the Norfolk casino has finally begun more than four years after city voters authorized its development during the November 2020 election.

Norfolk casino Virginia Boyd Gaming
A rendering of the Norfolk casino that will tower above the Virginia city’s Harbor Park baseball stadium. Construction is formally underway on the $750 million development. (Image: Boyd Gaming)

Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming, which joined the project only last year, has expedited the $750 million undertaking that will place a casino floor with 1,500 slot machines, 50 live dealer table games, and a FanDuel Sportsbook next to the city’s Harbor Park Minor League Baseball stadium.

The resort will have a 200-room hotel overlooking the stadium and Elizabeth River, eight restaurants and bars, a live entertainment venue, a resort pool, and meeting facilities. A 1,300-space parking garage will include a minimum of 103 spaces for Amtrak customers.

Construction vehicles and laborers arrived on the roughly nine-acre site that’s currently a parking lot. The paved area served both the ballpark and nearby Amtrak Norfolk Station.

To satisfy a statutory deadline, Boyd plans to open a temporary pavilion tent gaming structure on the property later this year. Boyd and the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, the latter being Norfolk’s “preferred casino developer,” paid Norfolk $10 million for the land.

The to-be-named casino resort, Boyd officials say, is set for completion in late 2027.

“Our resort will be a best-in-class casino entertainment destination on the Norfolk waterfront — a powerful new tourism draw for the Norfolk community, and an exciting new entertainment experience for residents throughout this region,” the company’s website on the development reads.

Long Road for Norfolk Casino

Before Virginia lawmakers passed legislation to allow certain cities to consider casino developments, with area voters having the final say through local ballot referendums, the Pamunkey Indian Tribe and Tennessee billionaire Jon Yarbrough were drafting plans for a tribal casino on the Native American community’s sovereign land about 60 air miles north of the southeastern Virginia city best known for its naval base. On concerns about market saturation, as Portsmouth was also designated for a casino, Norfolk city officials and the tribe agreed to partner on a commercial casino along the Elizabeth Riverbank.

A legal challenge from The Cordish Companies, which redeveloped Norfolk’s Waterside District on the opposite side of Harbor Park from where the Pamunkeys planned their casino, stalled progress. Other legal concerns, including a challenge to the tribe’s plans to operate a temporary casino inside the ballpark during construction, only further delayed the construction of the resort that was at the time called HeadWaters Resort & Casino.

Yarbrough, who made his billions by manufacturing gaming machines for tribal casinos, grew impatient. Last year, he opted to sell his 80% stake in the project to Boyd for an undisclosed sum.

Norfolk Parking

Boyd Gaming and the tribe concede that the closure of the D and B parking lots, which offered more than 900 spaces, will disrupt parking for both Amtrak passengers and Norfolk Tides fans this spring and summer. During construction, the casino developers are running a free shuttle from Lot E across Park Avenue to the Amtrak station and stadium. Lot E, however, has only 103 parking spaces.

City officials are encouraging people to use the Tide Light Rail and ride-hailing services to reach the ballpark and Amtrak.