The Northern California Carpenters Union and the Koi Nation, a Pomo Indian band, have signed a binding letter of intent to build the tribe’s proposed 2,500-machine casino and 400-room hotel near Windsor in unincorporated Sonoma County, the union announced.
The Koi Nation, a federally recognized Native American tribe based in Sonoma County, in 2021 unveiled plans to transform the 68-acre vineyard southeast of Windsor into the $600 million Shiloh Casino & Resort. This latest development ensures that any general contractor chosen by the Koi for construction will use union labor.
“We are proud to have the Nor Cal Carpenters Union as our labor partners for this project, which is important to the economic future both of the Koi Nation and the Nor Cal Carpenters Union,” Darin Beltran, Tribal Chairman of the Koi Nation, said in a statement. “We look forward to the day we can break ground and begin construction.”
The union said the non-smoking Shiloh Casino & Resort will be one of the largest union-built private developments in Sonoma County. The planned project would encompass a 2,500 Class III gaming machine facility, a 400-room hotel, six restaurant and food service areas, a meeting center and a spa, as well as a live entertainment venue.
The tribe also executed a pre-development agreement in January with Global Gaming Solutions, a wholly-owned business of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, to be its development partner for the project.
The project would create hundreds of jobs for workers in the construction trades and other skilled laborers, according to the union.
While the union agreement is an important development, other steps must be taken to ensure that the project comes to fruition.
Among other things, the Bureau of Indian Affairs is expected to conduct a series of hearings later in 2022 to affirm the status of the property as suitable to convey into federal trust, the next step in the development process.