The Quapaw Nation, owner/operator of the Saracen Casino Resort in Pine Bluff, marked a significant milestone in the construction of its $500 million hotel and event center today with the placement of the final beam in the roof of the 400,000-square foot hotel.The new Saracen Hotel under construction in Pine Bluff. Credit: Brian ChilsonThe 15-story hotel, which will have more than 300 rooms, is expected to open in fall 2025. Carlton Saffa, Saracen’s chief marketing officer, said the project is expected to come in “slightly under budget. The weather has been great. I know the drought has been tough for a lot of folks, but when you pour as much concrete as we pour, the weather has been good for us.”Carlton Saffa, Saracen’s chief marketing officer, speaks during a luncheon for workers. Credit: Brian ChilsonThe Quapaw Nation celebrated the installation of the final rooftop beam by decking it out with Arkansas, American and Quapaw Nation flags in the tribe’s “ancestral homeland,” Saffa said. “It’s also a celebration of the folks … who have helped build this for us.”
More than 400 workers eat lunch in what will become the main entrance to the Saracen Hotel still under construction. The hotel is expected to open in fall 2025. Credit: Brian ChilsonThe $250 million hotel along with the 1,600-seat event center represent an investment in Arkansas of more than half a billion dollars by the Quapaw Nation.From left, Lloyd Buffalo, member of the Quapaw Nation Business Committee, Linda Valliere, committee treasurer, Wena Supernaw, chair of the Quapaw Nation Business Committee, and State Sen. Stephanie Flowers, D-Ark., attended the Saracen celebration. Credit: Brian ChilsonSince opening in October 2020, Saracen has become home to 1,700 slot machines, 40 table games and Arkansas’s only poker room. Brian Chilson contributed to this report.
