$500 million casino resort in San Juan Bautista unlikely
The prospect of an Indian Casino near or in San Benito County is
nothing new. In 2004, some developers eyed land near the airport.
Other developers looked at Sargent Ranch, just across the county
line along Hwy. 101 as a spot for a gambling scene and resort. So
when a mysterious e-mail showed up in Pinnacle publisher Mark
Paxton’s inbox describing a 1.4 million square foot casino resort
in San Juan Bautista, it caused quite a stir around the
newsroom.
$500 million casino resort in San Juan Bautista unlikely
The prospect of an Indian Casino near or in San Benito County is nothing new. In 2004, some developers eyed land near the airport. Other developers looked at Sargent Ranch, just across the county line along Hwy. 101 as a spot for a gambling scene and resort. So when a mysterious e-mail showed up in Pinnacle publisher Mark Paxton’s inbox describing a 1.4 million square foot casino resort in San Juan Bautista, it caused quite a stir around the newsroom.
The mystery e-mailer did not respond to requests for comments and did not include a real name in the e-mail.
Pinnacle staff quickly set out to see if anyone in the county had heard about the project, dubbed the Red Hawk Indian Casino, and tried to contact the names listed on the bid, including Charles Heinz who was listed as a developer.
The project bid described a $500 million project near Hwy. 101 and Hwy. 156, with a 650-room hotel, convention center, restaurants, spa, golf course and 2-acre lake.
Byron Turner, assistant planning and building director for San Benito County, received the same e-mail sent to the Pinnacle newsroom.
“It looks like it came from some sort of construction bid Web site,” Turner said.
No one ever came in to talk about the project, Turner said.
“Generally these days, casinos are put on Indian land,” he said. “The property would have to be designated as reservation, and I know of no land out there designated as reservation.”
Looking for bids is premature, said Pat Loe, a San Benito County supervisor.
“It’s a four or five-year project at least, if not longer” Loe said. “It wouldn’t happen overnight. That just seems so far removed from any realm of reality at this point.”
Loe said she didn’t believe San Juan residents would not want a project of that size.
“I just can’t imagine that they would want that,” Loe said. “For something like that they’d need to build a highway, a big interchange. They would lose their character as a community.”
County staff have not received an official application for a casino in at least two years, said Art Henrigues, the planning director.
After local officials said they had heard nothing of such a large Indian casino resort project, staff turned to the contacts listed on the bid. The only identifying information in the bid was the phone number for Heinz and one for the Rockwell Group, an architectural firm in New York City.
Although a spokesperson for the Rockwell Group promised to look into the project, phone calls were not returned before press time.
The name is familiar, but Henriques does not know if the Rockwell Group has done any work in the county.
When Heinz returned a phone call to the Pinnacle Thursday evening, the first words out of his mouth were “It’s not true. I told everyone that a year ago. It wasn’t true then. It’s not true now.”
The same project was posted on a Web site, BidClerk.com, a year ago, Heinz said. He said he thought the posting may have been a practical joke.
“I thought a year ago it was a joke and now it happened again,” Heinz said. “It wasn’t true a year ago. That story’s not true now.”
A Contra Costa County resident, Heinz is the finance manager for a car business.
“I have nothing,” Heinz said. “I didn’t post it. That’s not even my line of work.”
To post a bid requires a log in name and password, according to their Web site. The service costs nearly $480 per year.
That is why Heinz is trying to find out who posted the bid.
“I don’t know how they got my cell phone number either,” Heinz said.
Loe does not think that the casino is a realistic project.
“Since the planning department was never approached and it never went through any sort of permitting for any public agency, I just can’t see how it is true,” Loe said. “I guess I’m just really amazed that people can go online and post things like this. It shows how anything can be posted online and people believe it.”
Most people would put a project out for bid when the planning process was finished or close to finished, Henriques said.
“That sort of points more to the fact that this is maybe sort of a joke or speculation,” Henriques said. “But, you never know.”
