MGM Springfield
Chuck Darrow
At so many casinos, the odor that greets visitors is that of cigarette smoke. But at MGM Springfield, the odor that greets visitors who enter from the valet parking entrance is popcorn wafting from the seven-screen movie complex that sits atop a pair of stairs situated just off the gaming area. And that’s just one of the many and unexpected ways this five-month-old hotel-casino complex is unlike any this column has ever visited—and likely different from any that exists.
In today’s new-casino universe, the architectural strategy tends to lean toward ultra-modern, with steel and glass the primary materials and the lines smooth and seamless. But MGM Springfield, which is built on the site of a luxe, Gilded Age hotel called The Chandler, looks not to the future, but the past. Inside and out, the theme is Springfield’s history as a 19th- and 20th-century industrial and literary center.
Its ostensibly vintage exterior design could easily lead one to assume the entire complex—which encompasses some two-million square feet set on 14 acres—is the result of a massive rehabilitation project. But only one façade of the Chandler Hotel remains. Everything else—including the five-story, 250-room/suite boutique hotel-- was built from the ground up (at a reported cost of just under $1 billion).
Inside, materials that harken back to Springfield’s industrial heyday—wood, iron and concrete—predominate.
The casino’s emphasis on the past is perfectly encapsulated in what is essentially the hotel lobby. Rather than simply be the place where guest-room check-in occur, the small, unobtrusive front desk is part of an integrated space that also includes a Starbucks and a bar.
The bar’s setting out of various classic board games is a nod to Springfield being the hometown of the Milton Bradley Co., makers of so many iconic games. But the area also features shelves crammed with books. This is a tip of the cap to Springfield’s illustrious place in the world of letters:
Poet Emily Dickinson was born and raised in nearby Amherst, Mass., and her first published works appeared in The Republican, Springfield’s still-publishing daily newspaper. And Theodore Geisel—better known as Dr. Seuss—was, perhaps, the city’s most celebrated native son/daughter (others include actor Kurt Russell and pop-music titan Katy Perry).
It is Geisel who has the larger presence at MGM Springfield: Inside TAP, the casino’s sprawling sports bar, floorboards from his childhood home can be found in the ceilings. And studs from his house’s frame have been transformed into hanging artwork on display in the saloon.
The “industrial chic” design continues in the guest rooms, which suggest the Victorian era, but without the fussiness.
Among the flourishes are a large-screen HD TV (mounted not on the wall, but on an iron stand), hardwood flooring and a contemporary bathroom (including waterfall shower). Great little touches include slippers for guests and even an umbrella for them to use (but not keep).
