PRESTON — Residents voted overwhelmingly to build a major indoor/outdoor entertainment facility Tuesday night.
According to Preston’s Fist Selectman Robert Congdon, 813 people voted in favor, where 137 opposed.
The Mohegan Tribe is looking to build a non-gambling resort on the grounds of the former Norwich State Hospital. The property takes up more than 390 acres of land in the south-east corner of the state.
“The collaboration to redevelop this site will provide an enormous boost not just for Preston but for the larger southeastern Connecticut region,” said Rep. Joe Courtney.
There will be a signing ceremony Wednesday, April 19 at 12:15pm at the Preston Riverwalk’s Administration Building.
Last year, Preston residents voted unanimously in support of the proposed sale of the hospital land to the Mohegan Tribe. The property has sat vacant since the hospital closed in 1996.
Tribal leaders say the resort will cost roughly $600 million to build and that they expect about $20 million of that total to come in from the state.
The plans for the resort show a wide range of entertainment activities including a campground, hotels, shopping, restaurants, a water park, outdoor adventure park, a marina, water taxi services, a senior living complex, and sporting complex.
Some state leaders, including Governor Dannel Malloy, have publicly supported the proposal saying it would make that region of the state a tourism destination.
