LITTLE BOSTON — You’ll sit in the outdoor gathering area and you’ll notice that the stained concrete floor will have a design resembling a Coast Salish spindle whorl. You’ll enjoy some quiet time or, perhaps, a salmon or clambake. Maybe you’ll go on a walk among the tall cedars and firs that share the adjacent  forest with 12-foot totem poles.

You can take a shuttle to nearby cultural sites or other places of interest, or participate in an activity alongside one of the nation’s most noted horticulturalists. Afterward, your evening plans might include a fine dinner and live entertainment.

This is the vision of those planning The Point Hotel, a four-story, 94-room hotel to be built next to The Point Casino and Event Center. And, as seen in other Native American hotel casino resorts, this economic venture is not just about gaming.

“Millennials are not as into pushing a button on a slot machine,” said Leo Culloo, general manager of The Point Casino. He said casino-hotel guests in Nevada spend more on food and entertainment than they do on gaming. While spending on gaming still outpaces food and entertainment at Native American casino hotels in Washington state, Culloo said the desire for a broader experience is influencing the diversification here.

The old casino building and adjacent Point No Point Treaty Council building will be demolished by the end of July and construction will begin in August, said Chris Placentia, CEO of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s Noo-Kayet Development Corporation. The Point Hotel is scheduled to open in fall 2016.

At 94 rooms, it will be the second-largest hotel and one of five in North Kitsap. The largest, Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort, has 183 guest rooms and offers six restaurants and cafes, a spa, live entertainment, and golf at the Suquamish-owned White Horse Golf Club. The Poulsbo Inn & Suites, on Highway 305, has 83 guest rooms and offers local-getaway packages. The Guesthouse Inn & Suites, next to Poulsbo Village, has 63 rooms. The Blue Water Inn, on Highway 104 in Kingston, has 20 rooms.

Guests at The Point Hotel’s will have access to entertainment at the event center; events at the Tribe-owned Heronswood Gardens; and other area attractions. Ultimately, a new casino and event center will be built south of the hotel, S’Klallam officials said, with the current casino — a tensioned fabric membrane building — used for some other form of entertainment.

Placentia called the project “a significant step forward” for the economic health of the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe that “also fills a lodging need in North Kitsap County. He said the The Point Casino & Hotel will help build tourism in the area, “benefitting many of the local businesses and our neighboring communities.”

“COASTAL MODERN”
Korsmo Construction of Tacoma, builder of the recent additions to the Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort, is the general contractor. Hnedak Bobo Group, or HBG, is the architect and interior designer; HBG’s projects include the Chickasaw Nation’s WinStar World Casino, the Seneca Nation’s Buffalo Creek Casino, the Tohono O’odham Nation’s West Valley Resort, and a 400-room hotel and conference center located on the grounds of Elvis Presley’s Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.

Sullivan described the hotel’s style as “Coastal Modern,” featuring the simple, unadorned architecture of midcentury with Coast Salish elements, such as cedar planks and longhouse-influenced rooflines. Guest rooms will be furnished in styles reminiscent of midcentury and decorated with Coast Salish art and photographs of S’Klallam life and the natural world.

According to the architect’s renderings, Coast Salish art will play a big role in connecting the contemporary and the cultural. The hotel interior will feature recessed areas displaying traditional items woven of cedar and/or wool. Archival objects will be exhibited in museum-quality fashion. The registration desk will be backdropped by a large, single-piece installation depicting a whale tail.

The exterior will feature a dramatic work: A four-story welcome pole made of steel, by S’Klallam artist Brian Perry.

The aforementioned poles will be carved by David Boxley, Tsimshian; Guy Capoeman, Quinault; Malynn Foster, Skokomish; Jake Jones, S’Klallam; Andy P. Wilbur-Peterson, Skokomish, Foster’s father; and Will Swift, S’Klallam, Jones’ grandson.

The Point Casino & Hotel will do more than tell the story of S’Klallam culture; it will also be a testament to the resilience of the S’Klallam people and the foresight of its leaders.

The S’Klallam people are one of the First Peoples of the northern Olympic Peninsula. S’Klallam, Skokomish and Chemakum leaders signed the Treaty of Point No Point in 1855, making land available to settlers. The U.S. government acquired land for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe in 1935-36 and for the Port Gamble S’Klallam in 1938. S’Klallam people living at Dungeness purchased land in 1874; it became designated a reservation, with title held and protected by the United States, in 1981. Another S’Klallam band is located at Becher Bay on southern Vancouver Island, B.C.

S’Klallam people at what is now Port Gamble relocated across the bay to Point Julia in 1853 to make room for the Puget Sound Mill. For 140 years in the new economy, S’Klallam people supported their families by working at the mill and/or fishing.

According to Sullivan and Culloo, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s first economic development venture was a smokeshop located in a modular building near today’s Gliding Eagle Marketplace. A bingo hall opened, but ultimately failed.

The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, adopted in 1988, cleared the way for Native American governments to operate casinos on their land, and gaming provided the seed money for the economic diversification seen in Indian Country today. For example, Port Madison Enterprises, the economic development arm of the Suquamish Tribe, is the second-largest private-sector employer in Kitsap County, second only to Harrison Medical Center. PME’s ventures are Suquamish Clearwater Casino Resort, White Horse Golf Club, Kiana Lodge, PME Retail, Property Management, and Port Madison Enterprises Construction Corp.

The Tulalip Tribes is the fourth-largest provider of jobs in Snohomish County. Its Quil Ceda Village, a village incorporated under Tulalip and U.S. law, is home to Tulalip Resort Casino, Hotel and Spa; the Tulalip Amphitheater; Seattle Premium Outlets, the largest retail outlet and open-air mall in the state; Cabela’s sporting goods; Home Depot; Walmart; and numerous restaurants. Nearby is Hibulb Cultural Center & Natural History Preserve.

Port Gamble S’Klallam opened its first casino in 2002; the new Point opened 10 years later, at 52,000 square feet more than twice the size of the original casino. It also has an event center, a lounge with music stage, an upscale restaurant and two other dining venues. Also in 2012, the Tribe purchased Heronswood, the storied gardens established by noted horticulturalist Dan Hinkley. Heronswood has become a venue for weddings and other events, and that’s expected to pair well with the hotel.

Other Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe ventures: Gliding Eagle Marketplace and Ravenwood Market.

The hotel will create 35-40 jobs, boosting the number of people employed by the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe to 500, according to employment numbers posted by the Kitsap Economic Development Alliance. That would put Port Gamble S’Klallam fourth in the “Other Public Employers” category, just behind the Suquamish Tribe.

Revenues generated by economic development have bolstered the Tribe’s public services, among them children and family services, courts, cultural resources, education, health services, natural resources, public safety, public works, and utilities. They’ve also bolstered the Tribe’s efforts to expand its land base and its charitable efforts on and off the reservation.

“The creation of The Point Casino & Hotel has been a long time in the making,” Chairman Jeromy Sullivan said in an announcement of the project. “The challenge has been finding the right hotel design at the right time that accomplishes our economic goals, helps drive local tourism, and respects our cultural and  environmental priorities. Our Tribe is known for its hospitality. During Tribal events like Canoe Journey, we are an anticipated stop. You will see that same level of home and comfort brought to this project.”