| The construction of Mohegan Inspire's arena is underway on Incheon's Yeongjong Island, Wednesday. The 15,000-seat indoor concert venue is a key feature of the mega property and will hold K-pop performances and sporting events. Courtesy of Inspire Entertainment Resort |
By Lee Hae-rin
Mohegan Inspire, set to become the largest integrated entertainment resort in Northeast Asia once all four phases are fully complete, is on track to open its doors by end of this year near Incheon International Airport, with the construction progress for its Phase 1 reaching 63 percent completion, Inspire Entertainment Resort said, Wednesday.
Inspire Entertainment Resort, the Korean corporation of the U.S. Indigenous-run entertainment and gaming brand Mohegan, held a press conference at the integrated resort's construction site on Incheon's Yeongjong Island, near Incheon International Airport, to showcase the progress of the construction.
“We're sitting on 4.3 million square meters of land, roughly the same size of Yeouido,” said Chen Si, the company's chief operating officer.
Mohegan is an integrated entertainment resort developer with an Indigenous background that operates seven properties in North America in cities including Las Vegas. Mohegan Inspire will be the company's eighth property.
The first phase of construction, which is a 2 trillion won ($1.49 billion) project, includes a three-tower luxury hotel with 1,256 rooms, a 15,000-seat arena to host concerts and sporting events, a foreigner-only casino with 700 slot machines, an all-year indoor water park, theme park, dining and shopping area.
| A rendering of Inspire Entertainment Resort's Mohegan Inspire, under construction on Incheon's Yeongjong Island / Courtesy of Inspire Entertainment Resort |
“It's our goal to … attract foreign visitors to the arena to appreciate Korean culture, especially live entertainment and art,” Si said, underscoring the company's expertise in building and operating integrated accommodations with entertainment facilities.
The integrated resort will also include a meeting convention space with a ballroom 10,000 square meters in size.
“Our strategy is to leverage (the resort's) proximity to the airport to drive business companies from the rest of the Asia-Pacific to host meetings in our facility and benefit the economy here,” Si said.
“We're hoping to complete construction with our partner Hanwha by September and start opening the resort in the fourth quarter.”
He added that the entire resort including the casino is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2024, after getting the hotel rating and casino license.
The company estimates the resort to create 3,000 direct jobs in the building and many more indirectly in the region.
The blueprint for the next phase of construction is due within a year after the resort's opening.