Glen Strandberg
Staff Writer

Southwest Casino Corporation announced Tuesday that North Metro Harness Initiative, LLC ó in which Southwest Casino is a 50 percent owner ó has scheduled a groundbreaking ceremony for the harness track and card room for 2 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 18.

ìWe are excited to have made this progress as rapidly as we have, and weíre looking forward to the groundbreaking,î Jim Druck, CEO of Southwest Casino Corporation said.

The scheduling of the groundbreaking at the Columbus site results from North Metro entering into a preliminary undertaking for construction and permanent financing and continued progress toward receipt of all required permits and government approvals.

The undertaking to provide the financing remains subject to numerous conditions, including Southwestís need for additional funds with which to make up to $2 million in further capital contributions to North Metro, completion of the lenderís due diligence, preparation of definitive loan documents, and approval of the financing arrangement by the Minnesota Racing Commission.

ìWe are pleased to be able to announce this groundbreaking as a result of progress on the financing and permitting for the North Metro project,î Druck said. ìWe believe we will be able to meet the requirements of the proposed financing and secure all remaining government approvals and be ready to hold the groundbreaking on January 18th.

ìWhen the litigation challenging North Metroís racing licenses ended late last summer, we felt we had six to eight months of hard work to do before we could begin construction and we are ahead of that schedule. We would like to thank the federal, state and local government authorities who have been working with us on this project for their cooperation in getting us to this point.î

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