Casino on the Contraband
L'Auberge Du Lac rises quickly on Lake Charles bayou

By Angelle Bergeron

In 18 months Manhattan Construction Co. of Houston will convert a swampy dumping ground hugging the banks of Contraband Bayou in Lake Charles into the sparkling new $325 million L'Auberge Du Lac Hotel & Casino.

The completed facility will feature a riverboat casino berthed in a specially excavated basin and flanked on either side by a 26-story hotel and four-level parking garage.

The project began in September when Manhattan Construction moved onto a 227-acre site that had served as a disposal site for dredged material from the Calcasieu River.

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"Dealing with the wet conditions was a big problem," said Duane Duffy, project manager for Manhattan. "It was a swamp. We had to do a lot of cut and fill and draining water off the site to get back to the waterfront (where the floating casino will be located)."

All of the parking lots and drives are on two layers of fabric, geogrid and geotextiles, Duffy said.

"There was no compaction necessary," he added. "We just cleared the site, put the fabric down on the spongy stuff, put sand over it and brought it up to grade."

The 770,000-sq.-ft. property is located just across the way from the Port of Lake Charles off Interstate-210 at Nelson Road. Amenities include more than 100 suites, several restaurants, spa and exercise facility, non-stop gaming and a Tom Fazio-designed golf course.

Manhattan's $145 million contract includes construction of the land-based facilities and is completely turnkey, excluding furniture, fixtures and equipment.

"That means the owner furnishes all of the finishes, such as carpet, vinyl wall covering, decorative elements and light fixtures, but I install them," Duffy added. The casino is scheduled to open in March.

The project is being performed under the Contractor's Control Insurance Program, meaning Manhattan furnishes all of the workman's compensation and general liability and the subcontractors are enrolled under that program.

"If you minimize accidents, the cost of C-CIP will offset credits from the owner and result in savings," Duffy said.

By mid-October when the inner and outer walls will be constructed, as many as 900 employees will be on-site with no-lost accidents to date, said safety director Charlie Myers.

"Safety is the number one priority with Manhattan. Not every company could work more than 300,000 man hours with no recordables and no lost time."

Because of the wet site, pre-stressed concrete piles support everything, Duffy said. Nothing is built on conventional slab grade.

"The first slab, which would be on grade, is actually elevated to get our forming system out," Duffy added. "Even level one is a conventional elevated slab."

The first two floors of the structure, which connect the hotel and garage between the boat basin, are structural steel. The lower levels will be used for meeting rooms, ballrooms and other public areas. The four floors of the parking garage and the remaining 24 floors of the hotel are all being constructed of cast-in-place, post-tensioned concrete.

"Baker Concrete is doing the pile cap foundations," Duffy said. "There is about 56,000 yards of concrete on the job."

Manhattan's contract also includes construction of the basin that receives the vessel.

"We put in three sides of sheet pile and dredged the basin to get it to grade. The vessel will be dragged in and we'll drive the fourth side of the sheet pile wall," Duffy said.

New Orleans-based Boh Bros. Construction drove sheet piling supplied by Skyline Steel.

"The Arbed AZ-48 sheet piling is the heaviest Z-type sheet pile section currently available," said Fred Fuchs, project manager for Boh Bros. "It's rare, but we've used it with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects before. Manhattan contracted us because of our experience with casino vessel basin construction."

The vessel, which is 225 ft. wide and 330 ft. long, is one of the world's largest single-deck riverboats and the only one of its kind in the state. It's so large that Jennings-based LEEVAC Industries LLC manufactured the boat in three separate hulls to accommodate Calcasieu lock restrictions.

"Two of the hulls were constructed at our shipyard in Jennings and one of the hulls was constructed at Quality Shipyards in Houma," said Troy Skelton, sales manager for LEEVAC. The hull constructed at Quality was towed to LEEVAC's facility in Jennings for continuation of construction.

All three were then towed to a temporary shipyard at the Port of Lake Charles.

Once the final outfitting is complete and the three hulls are welded together, the vessel will be towed to the casino site and placed into the waiting coffer cell.

"Since 1985, LEEVAC has constructed 13 gaming vessels and five dinner/excursion vessels for Louisiana, Mississippi, Iowa, Missouri and Florida," Skelton said. "Due to the increasing size of the vessels, coupled with navigational restrictions of certain waterways, a lot of the casino vessels are being designed and constructed in various hull sizes at one location and put together on or near their ultimate sites."

Approximately 4,335 short tons, or 8,670,000 lbs. of steel were used in the boat's manufacture and LEEVAC obtained the steel for the project in advance of recent rising prices, Skelton said.

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For more information about Pinnacle's new Lake Charles casino, go to: http://www.pinnacle-entertainment-inc.com/lakecharles.asp