Boomtown Casino to add 150-room hotel

Las Vegas-based Pinnacle Entertainment says it will build a 150-room hotel at the site of the company's Boomtown Casino in Jefferson Parish.

Construction of the $20 million development in the New Orleans suburb of Harvey is expected to begin in September and should be completed in late 2013.

Pinnacle spokeswoman Kerry Andersen said the casino, which opened in 1994 and has more than 1,400 slot machines and 32 table games, is the only one of the company's four Louisiana properties that isn't operating with an attached hotel.

The development will create about 50 permanent jobs, the company said.

The Lemoine Co. of Lafayette has been hired as general contractor for the project.