After breaking ground on its replacement Soboba Casino in southern California late last month, the Soboba Band Of Luiseno Indians has now announced that it expects the new 729,000 sq ft facility to be open by the summer of 2018 complete with an 83,500 sq ft casino floor offering 2,000 slots along with 24 gaming tables.

The federally-recognized Soboba Band Of Luiseno Indians opened its Soboba Casino some 85 miles east of downtown Los Angeles in 1995 and celebrated the Riverside County venue’s 20th birthday by announcing plans to move about one mile north to a larger 410-acre site it had purchased a year earlier.

As well as an expanded gaming floor, the plan for the replacement casino calls for the construction of a 200-room hotel, a 15,000 sq ft conference center, a sports bar and six food outlets as well as a spa and fitness center while the tribe previously stated that the finished development could employ up to 800 people.

“The improved facility promises to capitalize on what the tribe already has by adding more amenities such as a hotel, shops and an entertainment venue,” read a statement from the Soboba Band Of Luiseno Indians. “This will not only bring more visitors to the beautiful San Jacinto Valley but will create hundreds of jobs for locals [and provide] a huge economic boost for the area.”

When it opens just outside the city of San Jacinto, the replacement Soboba Casino will sit approximately 32 miles from the Lake Elsinore Hotel And Casino while the Morongo Casino Resort And Spa from the Morongo Band Of Mission Indians will be 24 miles away near the village of Cabazon.

“We have assembled a high-performance team who will move this project forward and has the type of momentum to get it pushed through to completion,” read a statement from Scott Sorois, General Manager for the Soboba Casino.

Sorois told The Press-Enterprise newspaper that the existing Soboba Casino will close about two hours before the new facility is opened with equipment due to be moved to the new venue in several phases.

“Long after all of us are gone, your legacy will go on,” read a statement from San Jacinto mayor Scott Miller. “This center will become the diamond of this valley; a place to enjoy, refresh and relax. You are helping fulfill the purpose of this valley; for people to get away and rejuvenate their souls.”