The planned purchase of the Birmingham Race Course Casino by Wind Creek is the latest sign eastern parts of Birmingham – and the city’s eastern suburbs – are ripe for recreational development.

Projects completed across the area in recent years are going strong, several more are underway and elected officials expect new ownership of the race course to amplify tourism and development in surrounding areas such as Trussville and Irondale.

Wind Creek Hospitality, owned by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, announced Monday it has signed an agreement to buy the Birmingham Race Course Casino from the McGregor family, which will retain ownership of Victoryland Casino in Shorter, in Macon County. The sale is expected to be finalized in January.

Wind Creek officials said they hope to transform the Birmingham Race Course into a premier entertainment destination in the Southeast.

“The Poarch Creek Indians have a track record of being able to build, maintain and run really top-notch venues,” said Birmingham City Councilor Hunter Williams, whose District 2 encompasses the race course. “I think that anybody that has been out to the Birmingham Race Course in the past few years knows that’s a venue that needs a little TLC. They have the expertise and funding to do some really big things there. If you look at the properties that they have developed, if they were able to do that to that site, it would be tremendous for Birmingham.”

Race Course Possibilities and Challenges

Jay Dorris, president and CEO of Wind Creek Hospitality, said that kind of growth is possible.

“We’re optimistic and hopeful that with time and appropriate legislation, we will be looking at developing a full-blown Wind Creek integrated resort,” he said. Such a resort would include a hotel, restaurants, shopping and other amenities.

Dorris said Wind Creek will work alongside the McGregor family to advocate for legal changes that would allow gaming operations at the Birmingham Race Course to expand beyond the simulcasts and historical horse racing machines allowed now under state, Jefferson County and Birmingham law.

There are no plans to resume live horse or dog racing.

Lewis Benefield, president of the Birmingham Race Course and Victoryland, said legislative challenges hampered the McGregor family’s efforts to enhance entertainment options at the Birmingham Race Course.

“Unfortunately, differing state laws and enforcement actions regarding gaming have limited our ability to compete effectively,” he said, adding that the McGregor family will now focus its efforts on Victoryland.

Dorris said he thinks the people of Alabama will ultimately decide what’s possible at the Birmingham site by voting on a constitutional amendment that could authorize a lottery and table gambling. A bill that would have put an amendment on the ballot this past August fell one vote short in the state Senate earlier this year.

“There’s been early indications that that might be back on the slate,” of the state Legislature, Williams said.

Wind Creek is based in Alabama and is one of the fastest-growing gaming companies in the country. It manages the Poarch Creek Indians’ gaming operations, race tracks and resorts, which include facilities in Atmore, Montgomery, Wetumpka and Mobile in Alabama and others in Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania and the Caribbean. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians is the only federally recognized Native American tribe in Alabama. The tribe’s lands are eight miles northwest of Atmore.

Wind Creek’s first facility, located on the Poarch Creek Reservation, opened in 1985 and now boasts a luxury hotel, spa, infinity pool, movie theater, bowling alley, arcade, outdoor amphitheater, live entertainment and an RV park. Because that facility is located on tribal lands, it can offer games – mainly those that fall under the category of electronic bingo – that are currently illegal in Birmingham.

Dorris said Wind Creek’s rewards program alone typically increases revenue when it purchases a facility. The program provides personalized offers and points that are redeemable at all the Wind Creek locations.

“It takes a little bit of time to get the infrastructure in place on a property so that we can offer Wind Creek rewards to the existing customers, but also the intention is to bring in new customers,” Dorris said. “So our history is that, over time, we do increase revenues, we see new people coming to check it out, and that’s what we will aim to do here.”

Economic Development and Jobs

Wind Creek intends to retain all employees at the Birmingham Race Course and continue operations during the ownership transition, Dorris said. Employees will begin receiving Wind Creek’s benefits package after the sale is finalized.

“I think they will be very happy and very pleased with what we offer,” Dorris said. “As we’re able to build up the volume and get new customers to come visit, we will be looking to hire more employees.”

Williams said the city of Birmingham is absolutely expecting the site to generate more tax dollars once the sale goes through and he’s excited about the potential for job creation and further economic development in the area.

“They’re known for taking very good care of their employees,” Williams said. “And they have higher-paying jobs than many would have, and they have great benefits. There’s a lot of upside for Birmingham, and it’s too early to quantify that since the deal isn’t closed yet, but it is going to be a huge net positive for the city.”

Dorris said the Atmore facility is a good example of the kind of economic development a Wind Creek property can drive.

“When Wind Creek Atmore opened up, there was not a lot around it, but if you drive through there today, there’s hotels, there’s food outlets. As we develop our property, others start taking advantage of the increasing number of people coming in. So over time, I fully expect the surrounding area to develop.”

He said it’s too soon to say when upgrades of existing facilities or construction of new ones could take place.

“During our due diligence period, we’ll be doing a full assessment of the current facility,” Dorris said. “We’ll work with what’s there right now, and I do expect that we will grow the business at some point in the future if we are successful and the state Legislature supports us in doing more, we’re going to do more.”

Stephanie Bryan, tribal chair and CEO of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, said the tribe has already been involved in the Birmingham area through support of organizations including Birmingham Promise and the Birmingham Zoo.

“Birmingham is one of the most vibrant cities in America, and we feel very fortunate that this acquisition will allow us to increase the investment and deepen the relationships that we already have in Birmingham,” she said. “When it comes to attracting tourism, this is an incredibly important area of the state. We are committed to building on the success of both the Birmingham Race Course Casino and our Wind Creek brand by ensuring that this property will keep tourist dollars here at home and provide jobs that support Alabama families.”

Municipalities Shift Perspective on Development as Competition

While the race track property is in Birmingham, it sits near the confluence of the city with Irondale and Trussville, which also stand to benefit from increased tourism and development.

“We have several hotels within a mile of that area,” said Trussville Mayor Buddy Choat. “It could benefit our hotels and our shopping center that’s close by.”

Choate said increased traffic to the race course also could expand tourism in Trussville and benefit that city’s downtown entertainment district, The Gateway, which opened in 2020 and includes hotels, Airbnb properties, restaurants, shops and an outdoor stage and pavilion.

Williams said there are a lot of advantages to working with, instead of trying to compete against, surrounding municipalities, and that’s something most leaders in Birmingham-area governments have come to recognize.

“For decades, everyone was in their own lane when it came to economic development and when it came to tourism,” he said. “And the end result of that is we talked about the dome stadium for 30 years. We had three or four groundbreakings for something that never got built. That old saying about a rising tide lifts all ships is very accurate.

“If Leeds, Irondale, Homewood, Mountain Brook, Hoover – if any of them has a big win, that is a big win for Birmingham, too. So I think that we all realize it’s a team sport, and you see that in the Mayors’ Association and City Council Round Table, where you have city councilors coming together every single month from all the different municipalities, finding ways that we can solve problems together.”

Williams said there’s a lot of momentum in east Birmingham and the municipalities east of the city to change for the better.

Below are some recent, current and planned development projects for those areas.

East Birmingham

Williams said he thinks the area surrounding the Birmingham Race Course will see a lot of development in coming years. “It’s got really good infrastructure in terms of John Rogers Drive, so it can handle a lot of people,” he said, adding that the Poarch Creek Indians have invested in spots adjacent to other Wind Creek facilities.

Another east Birmingham area to see new development soon is adjacent to Barber Motorsports Park and Museum, which is also in Williams’ district and near the city of Leeds.

The Birmingham City Council in August approved a zoning change from Planned Manufacturing zone to a Planned Recreation District that would allow a developer to build a 105-unit car condominium near the motorsports park.

“Barbara Motorsports is one of the best assets that we have, not just in Birmingham, but really in the state of Alabama,” Williams said. Events there often draw people from 48 states and 11 to 17 countries outside of the United States, he said.

“Anytime that they add an addition or feature to something that is world renowned, it only gets better,” Williams said of the car condominium, which will provide collectors of high-end automobiles space to store their vehicles.

The rezoning shows that the city of Birmingham wants to be a good partner with Barber Motorsports, Williams said. “It says to people that are looking for light industrial, light manufacturing, don’t look at that site,” Williams said. “That site is looked at as something that’s contiguous with the motorsports track, and the goal is for the motorsports track to be able to influence what goes on there.”

Trussville

In Trussville, the popular downtown entertainment district could be expanding.

A developer has purchased nearby property, Choat said, and could bring more retail and entertainment space to the area.

The entertainment district was a long-desired project that has been successful despite opening as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Choat said. “That was built because the residents had said for years that they wanted something in Trussville where they didn’t have to drive to Birmingham or (U.S.) 280 and so we focused on that,” said Choat, who became mayor in 2016. “We’re marketing this thing on about a 90-mile radius right now.”

The city estimated the district had potential to bring in $20 million in revenue per year, and the reality is on target, Choat said. A free concert series from March to October this year drew 30,000 to 40,000 people, he said.

At the city’s sports complex, artificial turf is being installed on nine softball and baseball fields that are slated to be ready for play in spring. The city is converting one field into a Miracle League field for children and adults with special needs. A new hotel near the fields will likely open within the next year, Choat said.

Last year, the city opened a 38,000-square-foot addition to its civic center that houses a gymnastics and cheer program run by Trussville Parks & Recreation that serves 700 participants.

A new indoor pickleball facility with eight courts inside the sports complex brings the number of pickleball courts in the city to 20. “Pickleball has kind of taken over,” Choat said. “Tennis is still big, but pickleball has drawn young and older folks.”

Irondale

A long-term project is underway in Irondale to move municipal buildings and the library out of the historic downtown and then turn that space into an entertainment district similar to the one in Trussville.

Mayor James Douglas Stewart Jr. said that, conservatively, the first phase of the project — building new municipal facilities — is expected to take 18 to 24 months, and the second phase — redeveloping the downtown area — is slated to take another 18 to 24 months.

Because railroad tracks divide the downtown area and trains sometimes impede pedestrian traffic, the city will explore the possibility of a pedestrian bridge, Stewart said. He also wants to find a way to integrate Irondale’s railroad-related history into development plans.

“There are people down here on the weekends that are train enthusiasts who come and sit on our platform,” he said. “So my thing is not to eliminate the trains, but to see how we can integrate all of this into a comprehensive plan where we can accommodate individuals that love the history of the train, but we can also offer things for our younger constituents who like to go to breweries, restaurants, like to have outdoor concerts.”

Stewart said the entertainment district will be called The Gathering. “We want to implement all of those that you see in entertainment districts,” he said. “We want to be creating that atmosphere here in the city of Irondale. The reason we want to do that is because we want to make sure that we provide things for our citizens to do inside of our city limits, but we also want to make sure that we capture those sales tax dollars that are leaking out to other municipalities.”

The new 16,000-square-foot library is already under construction on Grants Mill Road, and Stewart said it will be completed in June.

Other projects include a $1 million dog park that opened Oct. 26, and an $18 million renovation of the city’s civic center planned for next year. The city demolished and is rebuilding turf baseball fields for Little League and travel ball at Ruffner Baseball Park, at a cost of $8.6 million. Stewart said that project will be complete in December, and the first tournament is scheduled for February.

Leeds

In July, the city of Leeds approved a proposal for a waterfront-style resort with hotels, a regional sports park and a 700-home residential neighborhood off Interstate 20 Exit 140. Barber Motorsports Park is about four miles off the same exit.

The area also boasts the Birmingham area’s only Buc-ee’s, which opened in 2021.