PINE BLUFF, Ark. — The suspense has been building in Pine Bluff as Saracen Casino Resort's new hotel and event center draws closer to completion.
"You know a 200 to 300 hundred-foot tower crane in southeastern Arkansas is something that hasn't happened in a while," said Carlton Saffa, the Chief Market Officer for Saracen. "This completes the package that has been a long-awaited process between COVID, hyperinflation, bank issues, and everything else. This should've happened a couple of years ago."
Saffa said that being able to see Saracen reaching new heights has been very exciting. He also explained how it will be a great economic benefit for the city of Pine Bluff.
"I think this community is absolutely on the upswing. What we have seen is that this building is a source of pride for Pine Bluff and Jefferson County," he added.
Currently, Saracen Casino employs close to 800 employees and 70% of them are from Jefferson Count. The goal is to continue that trend onto their newest project.
"We sit 40 minutes away from Little Rock and we're building a 323-room hotel. We'll have a million square foot under [our] roof in a little over a year," Saffa explained.
At the event center, Saracen plans to bring big headliners, and the hotel will allow their guests to have somewhere to stay without having to travel far.
The finishing date is coming sooner than you think.
"Every time I come to work it seems like something has changed. We're going up with a new floor every nine days, weather permitting. 14 days at the max," Saffa added. "We'll be done in the fall of 2025. So here we sit in late July, we got a little over a year left and a couple of months."