Fond-du-Luth Casino Plans to Spend $6M on Renovation Plan

An Old Building to Get a New Look in Old Downtown

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The old downtown is an area that has been booming with new businesses.

A staple of downtown Duluth, The Fond-du-Luth Casino has announced a plan for a facelift.

“We really felt we couldn’t put it off much longer,” said Fond du Lac Band chairwoman, Karen Diver.

With the recent addition of restaurants, bars, theaters, and more, Downtown Duluth is going through a transition.

“Slowly but surely, all of downtown, but particularly that part of old downtown, is kind of getting a face lift,” said Daniel Fanning with the City of Duluth.

But it’s not all about the new. The Fond–du–Luth Casino, which has been operating in downtown Duluth for years, has plans for renovation. 

“The basic layout of the floor will change a bit, some of the flow of the operations will be changed a little bit, making it a little more user friendly,” Diver explained.

Fond du Lac tribe leaders say these changes are necessary.

“It has been, I believe, nearly 20 years since Fond-du-Luth Casino was last rehabbed into the current art deco theme that it has now. It was time to update it,” Diver said.

With construction beginning as early as this summer, between $5 and $6 million coming from tribal resources will go towards remodeling the first and second floors, replacing neon lights with LED lighting, and changing the current art deco theme to more nature–oriented décor.

But perhaps one of the most significant changes will be that the entire first floor of the casino will become a no smoking area.

“We had received some feedback from our customers that they would like a no smoking area,” Diver told FOX 21. “Just in terms of the layout of the casino, it makes more sense to try that on the first floor and keep smoking on the second floor.”

All these changes are part of a renovation process Duluth city leaders are excited about.

“It’s exciting because there’s already some really good momentum, particularly in the part of old downtown,” Fanning said.

The city hopes these changes will add to the “positive buzz” in an already thriving area of the city.

“There are some older buildings that need to be renovated, and the casino’s one of those. So to hear the band’s planning on doing that, that just kind of builds on that potential and builds on that excitement that’s already there for the old downtown,” Fanning added.