Mohegan — When Mohegan tribal officials say the tribe’s “not going anywhere,” they mean it only in the literal, geographic sense.

Figuratively, the tribe's always on the move.

Kevin Brown, the tribal chairman, made both of those points Thursday, announcing details of the latest Mohegan Sun expansion, an $80 million convention center that he said will “solidify Mohegan Sun’s position as the premier resort destination in all of the Northeast.”

A gathering that included tribal members, state lawmakers and municipal officials from the neighboring towns of Montville, Norwich and Preston applauded.

“This is representative of our desire to be more than a gaming facility …” Brown said of the tribe’s latest project, scheduled for completion next summer. “Reinvesting in our flagship shows that we’re ensuring everyone remembers we are a permanent part of Connecticut. We always have been, always will be.”

A part of Connecticut, Brown said, that’s supplied the state with more than $3 billion in slot-machine revenue since 1996 while generating thousands of jobs. He said the 300 permanent jobs the convention center will provide will push Mohegan Sun’s “headcount” past the 7,000 mark.

Brown mentioned only in passing the tribe’s anticipated purchase and development of the nearly 400-acre Norwich Hospital property in Preston, a potentially huge project involving theme parks, housing and hotels. Mentioned not at all was the tribe’s pursuit — in a joint venture with the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, its nearby gaming rival — of a north-central Connecticut casino to fend off a competing resort being built in Springfield, Mass.

Jeff Hamilton, Mohegan Sun’s assistant general manager, said the Mohegan Sun Expo Center will encompass more than 240,000 square feet of space, enabling Mohegan Sun to compete for corporate and association trade shows with venues in Boston and New York City. He said United Natural Foods has committed to a food show at the new center, though no specific date has been set.

Terrificon, a comic-book convention, and the National Association of Postal Supervisors convention are also candidates for center bookings, as are such events as tech industry shows, golf shows, home shows and motor sports and hunting-and-fishing shows, Hamilton said.

The project will include 131,000 square feet of exhibition space, a 21,000-square-foot ballroom, 18 meeting rooms and 3,600 square feet of outdoor space, including a wrap-around terrace. It is to be completed by June 2018, in time to host the Barrett-Jackson Northeast collector car auction, an event Mohegan Sun hosted for the first time last year in Mohegan Sun Arena.

Perry Lorenz, president and chief executive officer of North Stonington-based A/Z Corp., the project’s construction manager, spoke to reporters on the edge of the construction site, where earth-removal work was in progress. The center is being built in a vacant area bounded by the casino’s Winter Garage and the Earth Tower, the 400-room hotel that opened last November.

Hundreds of workers eventually will be engaged on the project, which Lorenz said will be the largest construction project underway in the region.

Completing the project by next summer will be a challenge, said Lorenz, whose company also managed the Earth Tower project and has done other work at Mohegan Sun.

“They want everything done yesterday,” he quipped, referring to casinos.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com