Cactus Jack's building walls to casino addition

Work on a 9,000-square-foot addition to Carson City's Cactus Jack's casino is marching forward, with the latest addition of a two-story mortar-brick tower that will house an elevator.

"The foundation is done, the sewer is done and eventually they will be working on the interior and exterior walls," said Cactus Jack's shift manager Bud Coyner. "The masons are working on an elevator shaft to the second floor."

The new building will house employee offices, a break room, slot shop and a small leasable space on Curry Street. It will not expand the size of the 8,500-square-foot casino floor, which currently offers 181 slot machines to a mix of local and tourist customers.

The casino had planned for completion of the $1 million project by Nevada Day, but late building permits stalled ground breaking.

"We had a bad start, but work is moving fast now," Coyner said.

Construction is being done by contractor Don Hand. "They are doing high-quality work," Coyner said.

Casino General Manager Bill Hissam has said the expansion is a necessity for technicians working on modern slot machines. The biggest part of the building is being reserved for the slot shop.

"We were bulging at the seams with the old offices," he said. "Twelve years ago we remodeled the office and said 'This will last us 10 years.' We were just about right."

The new building will be followed by a complete outside overhaul of the current casino.

"We are going to redo the outside of Cactus Jack's to mirror the office," Hissam said. "That will probably add another $1 million."

The roof will look similar to the Copper Point Plaza where Red's Old 395 Grill is located.

A 1950s-era home that used to house between 4,500 and 6,000 square feet of office space was razed to make way for the building. Hissam said the home was not historically significant.

Cactus Jack's also owns the nearby Hyman Olcovich House, which the casino unsuccessfully sought to move in Late 1997. A request for the open space to build a parking lot was denied by the Carson City Historic Architecture Review Commission, a decision upheld by the board of supervisors.

The Hyman Olcovich house, located on Nevada Street, is believed to have been built in 1877.