It’s Fife EQC’s time to shine with multimillion-dollar update, new table games
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Emerald Queen Fife progressing on $10M phased refresh, adding table games
- Project using eight phases to limit offline machines and sustain operations
- New upgrades to include a multi-table pit, HVAC, lighting, carpet and art
Will you notice the cleaner-smelling air courtesy of updated HVAC system or the new carpeting first?
It might be more likely that the main attention-grabber for many will be the addition of table games.
Those are among the changes underway at Emerald Queen Casino, 5700 Pacific Highway E. in Fife, the smaller of the two casinos owned and operated by The Puyallup Tribe of Indians.
The Fife venue, according to its website, has more than 2,300 slots, 100 hotel rooms and two restaurants, “including our Tatoosh Grill.”
The changes are part of the site’s “refresh,” as described by CEO Yale Rowe, who started in his position with EQC more than a year ago, and Greg Byler, consulting project manager and owner’s representative who is overseeing the project.
The News Tribune recently interviewed Rowe and Byler about the project, which has an estimated cost of more than $10 million.
There are eight phases, and Byler said that, so far, the crew’s been running slightly ahead of schedule, with Phase 6 starting in January.
Taking a phased approach has been “defined primarily to limit the number of machines that would be offline for any given time for the refresh,” Byler explained.
“It’s really driven by the number of games that we can afford to have offline and still function,” he noted.
Construction crews aim to be as unobtrusive as possible, using side or back doors to remain out of sight of patrons.
“That creates some inconveniences for our team members ... and certainly creates some inconveniences and challenges for our contractor and subcontractors,” said Rowe. “When you take a section of your casino down, and, if that’s where people have been playing for years because that’s where the games are that they like, they’ll sometimes get confused. ... And our team has been phenomenal.”
Rowe noted that tiny details are important to keep the site unique for a clientele that favors the smaller gaming floor.
“We’ve been very, very careful on the design side of this not to create the EQC Tacoma property,” said Rowe, who oversees both locations. “We just wanted fresh and new and clean but still approachable, still comfortable, still appealing to that audience who is looking for that.
“If they want Tacoma, they drive three more miles down the road,” he added.
Details of updates to Fife site
The property was formerly a Best Western Hotel and Conference Center, with various components added after the tribe took on the property in the early 2000s to convert into a new casino/hotel.
“It’s kind of a patchwork quilt in that sense, but it works,” said Byler. “Some people just like the maze feeling. It’s a complete contrast to what we have in Tacoma.”
The Tacoma property (2920 E. R St.), a $400 million project by comparison, opened in 2020, and later opened its hotel. The Tacoma site includes not only slots but more than 60 table games, 155 hotel rooms and suites, six dining venues and a 250-seat sports bar as well as an event center.
Fife, too, will have table games, with a multi-table gaming pit for the first time, according to Rowe.
The plan is for six to eight tables, including Roulette, Blackjack and Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em.
“We get questions about that every single day,” Rowe said. “So that’ll be a real exciting component for our guests.”
New paint, new lighting, new HVAC and new art are all part of the interior updates, along with new carpeting throughout.
As Rowe pointed out, “When you change the carpet, everybody realizes that you’ve made a change.”
The lobby is done, the hotel portion is close to completion, and soon after the entire gaming floor will be back in business.
Rowe estimated the site’s entire project will wrap up “sometime in August.”
“We’re having fun doing this,” Byler added. “I tell my team, if I can’t have fun doing this, I’m not going to do it. So we are having fun.”
