Pinnacle Entertainment breaks ground on hotel for its New Orleans casino

Pinnacle Entertainment broke ground last week on a $20 million project that will add a 150-room hotel tower to the company’s Boomtown Casino in New Orleans.

Geno Iafrate, the regional vice president for Las Vegas-based Pinnacle, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune the development has been planned for several years.

"It’s long overdue for this community and this business,” he said.

Boomtown is located in the New Orleans suburb of Harvey in Jefferson Parish.

The five-story hotel is expected to open in April 2014 and will including eight luxury suites, a fitness center and conference space.

Pinnacle currently operates four hotel-casinos in Louisiana. The company, through its planned acquisition of Ameristar Casinos, is picking up a fifth project currently under construction in Lake Charles, La.