Cliff Buchan
News Editor

On most Forest Lake Area Chamber of Commerce membership meeting days, 25 to 30 members may show up.

But when the topic of the day is the $60 million Running Aces Harness Park in Columbus, it’s a different story. With track executive Jeffrey Halpern on hand last Thursday, more than 100 area folks turned out to learn more.

It was a clear sign there is a high degree of interest in the track, said Colleen Eddy, president of the Chamber this week. Everyone has seen the facility springing up on the west side of I-35 and south of TH-97 in Columbus, she said.

“There was a draw with the speaker,” Eddy said. “People want to be in the know.”

By the time Halpern was finished with a 45-minute report and questions and answers, there was plenty of facts shared.

Long in the coming, the oft delayed harness racing facility is now on its way to open a 50-day racing season in April. By law, the card room, featuring 50 tables of poker, blackjack and other card games, can’t open for 90 days, meaning a start in July.

Halpern, chief executive officer and chairman of the board of the Minnesota-based Southwest Casino and Hotel Corporation, said the harness track has endured over the past four years. Legal hurdles and citizen lawsuits have been overcome, he said, and the facility will soon become reality.

“No softballs,” Halpern said. “It was a tough long process. But we are happy to be here. The good times are ahead.”

Big impact

The track is expected to have a major impact in the area, from drawing contestants and racing fans from a wide area, to fueling the local economy in terms of jobs, tax base and purchasing power, Halpern said.

The track and land purchase will cost Southwest Casino and its partner, MTR Gaming, some $60 million.

Other track highlights are:

•600 jobs with the owners planning to recruit locally for most positions. Job fairs will come early in 2008.

•An annual payroll of $16 million.

•An estimated $800,000 in property taxes to Columbus, Anoka County and ISD 831, plus the minor taxing districts.

•A guaranteed minimum tax payment of $237,000 to the city of Columbus.

•An additional payment of $88,000 a year to the city for public safety services.

Eddy, too, believes the track will be a positive to the area.

“It’s a great asset to the area,” Eddy said. “They are going to employ 600 and will start (hiring) at the local level.”

Local businesses should also benefit from track employee wages that will be spent in the area. A direct agriculture impact is also expected to be another positive, she said.

“It’s more of a draw,” she said. “It will put Forest Lake on the map.”

Cards are key

Halpern said the card room will be essential to the success of the track operation. By 2009, with the card room in full operation, he said it should enable the track to offer racing purses to $60,000 a day, a point that will draw more harness racers to Running Aces.

“The combination should work very well for us,” he said.

With no harness racing available closer than Iowa and the occasional county fair races, Halpern predicted Running Aces will become a destination.

As the track’s permit from the Minnesota Racing Commission now stands, the track can take bets on harness racing locally and across the country. Without legislative action, the Columbus track can’t take wagers on thoroughbred racing.

The ownership group will ask the legislature early next year for permission to allow such wagering. The bill would also enable Canterbury Park in Shakopee to conduct pari-mutuel betting on harness racing from across the country.

Allowing simulcast betting only makes sense for the horse industry, he believes. “It’s a bill that ought not be a tough bill,” Halpern said.

Along with harness racing and the card room, Running Aces will offer a public restaurant and an entertainment center for public events and meetings. The facility will be open year-round.

With its five-eighths of a mile racing oval, the facility will have stables and stalls to house 300 horses. Halpern said he expects most of the racers will be transient and come in for several days before moving on, avoiding the establishment of any back side city that could sprout up.

Halpern said the track will have a formal opening party for the community at some point next year, but said tours of the facility are available for groups by appointment.

To arrange a tour, call Halpern’s office at 952-853-9990.

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