The first phase of Tsogo Sun’s R640-million refurbishment and expansion of the Gold Reef City complex, which focused on the casino, is nearing completion.

Construction, which started a year ago, saw the rejuvenation of the casino with new carpeting, upgraded lighting and décor and additional slot machines, as well as a new Privé section, which featured private entrances, playing areas, a baccarat room, Internet and cash desk facilities, lobby and VIP desk, as well as a lounge.

Gold Reef City also opened the doors of the Vigour & Verve restaurant, Spur Steak Ranch, Magic Company, a Kaya FM satellite studio, a 12-lane bowling alley, a fast food court and new restaurants, which were still under construction, but expected to open by December.

These include Boston BBQ, Calisto’s Portuguese Restaurant, The Raj Indian Restaurant and Col Cacchio Pizzeria.

Also built during the renovation, was the Movies@Gold Reef City, featuring a six-cinema complex that was themed as a Victorian train station with six theatres and 1 048 seats. Four of the theatres had three-dimensional capability.

The largest theatre was Platform 2, Grand Central, which had 322 seats, while Platform 3, seating 84, boasted leather seats and a bar.

The casino’s iconic Back o’ the Moon restaurant also underwent a complete revamp and was now a modern interpretation of the iconic 1950s shebeen in Sophiatown.

“The original genesis of this is that we needed to make the casino bigger and we wanted to change the nature of the casino to be far more family orientated, to be a more integrated entertainment complex, which is very much in line with what the Tsogo group has done at places such as Montecasino and the Sun Coast casino,” Tsogo Sun CEO Marcel von Aulock told Engineering News Online during a tour of the construction site.

Tsogo Sun had spent about R300-million to date, with Von Aulock pointing out that the development was still within budget and on time. “The scope has changed as we have gone along. The nature of these complexes is as you start, you get new ideas, which generally messes up your budget completely, but we are where we want it to be.

“The challenge is that we have to keep it within the Gold Reef City theme; we didn’t want to introduce anything that moved away from the historical mining town look and feel,” he noted.

Further, he pointed out that Tsogo Sun expected “quite a big uptick” in footfall, as it now catered to families.

The second phase of construction would see Tsogo Sun changing the nature of the Gold Reef City theme park. “We want to move away from pay-on-entry to make the theme park free and see people charged only for rides.”

Von Aulock highlighted that additional rides would be introduced in the second phase, while the museum section would be renovated. “We have moved the mine up from level 5 to level 2 because of the rising mine water issues, so that is being rescued.”

The hotel group spent almost R20-million to move the museum from 280 m to 80 m. “People can still have the experience of going down the mineshaft in the old carriages,” he pointed out.

Phase 2 would also focus on the theme park’s Apartheid Museum, which Von Aulock noted had become one of the most visited attractions in South Africa.

“We are investing R30-million to construct a permanent Nelson Mandela-exhibition,” he said.