The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians is on its way to building a third casino in downtown Cathedral City after receiving federal government approval, officials announced Thursday.
The Cathedral City property will join the band’s other two casinos, Agua Caliente Casino Palm Springs and Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage.
The federal government approved the tribe’s request to transfer a more than 13-acre parcel of land into a tribal trust for gaming purposes, the tribe announced via a news release.
The approval follows a 3-0 vote by members of the Cathedral City City Council on Aug. 28 to approve agreements that will have the the tribe pay an average of $650,000 each year for 10 years (or roughly $6.5 million overall) to mitigate the possible impacts of the project.
In 2017, the tribe acquired a 12.5-acre site at the corner of E. Palm Canyon Drive (Highway 111) and Date Palm Drive to complete the 13.6-acre project site. As part of the agreement it paid $5.5 million to for a new city fire station at 68950 Buddy Rogers Ave.
The tribe is expected to announce a groundbreaking date for the project soon.
The tribe opened Agua Caliente Casino Palm Springs (formerly Spa Resort Casino) in a tent next to its hotel in 1995 and replaced it with a permanent property in 2003. The hotel portion of property closed in 2014.
The Agua Caliente Band’s other property, Agua Caliente Resort Casino Spa Rancho Mirage (formerly Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa), opened off the 10 freeway in 2001 and features a 16-story hotel, 2,200 seat theater and four-story garage.
Both properties in the last year have made changes to their dining offerings. They also underwent a major rebranding effort where they were both renamed.
