ST. LOUIS — The Cella family, the St. Louis-based owners of the Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort in Hot Springs, Arkansas, has wrapped up a $100 million-plus expansion at the facility.
Oaklawn on Wednesday held a ribbon-cutting event to mark the official grand opening of a new luxury hotel, spa and event center at the horse track. The expansion, the third construction project completed at Oaklawn since 2008, was funded entirely through private investment.
The Cella family was a founding partner of Oaklawn, which opened in the early 1900s. It is currently led by President Louis Cella, who is the fourth generation of the Cella family to operate the horse track. The Cella family owns St. Louis-based Southern Real Estate & Financial Co.
The $100 million expansion at Oaklawn includes an eight-story, 198-room luxury hotel; spa facility; and 15,000-square-foot event center that can hold up to 1,500 people. Cella touted the “world-class” spa that includes a needle shower, Himalayan salt wall and infrared sauna.
“We don’t have this high of caliber resort in Arkansas. My challenge two years ago was to create one,” he said.
Construction on Oaklawn’s expansion began in 2019 and took about 28 months to complete. An initial portion of the project included expanding the gaming facility at the horse track to add 28,000 square feet of casino space. That project, completed in January 2020, added more than 1,5000 slot machines and 33 gaming tables. The renovation has also added new dining facilities and expanded parking at Oaklawn.
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