SOARING EAGLE CASINO & RESORT
Ascend Sports Bar Renovation
Ascend was designed as a premier multi-use venue, offering a world-class sports bar environment at Soaring Eagle Casino. The customer experience begins with the giant pivot doors which open onto the gaming floor and transport guests through a dynamic portal that incorporates a custom multifaceted wall surface, back-lit with programmable LED lighting. As guests enter the space, a unique triangle bar creates a high-energy, social entertainment destination providing optimal viewing angles for watching a game, or live musical entertainment.
Location: Mt Pleasant, Michigan
Duration: 12 Weeks
Project Size: 4,200 sf
Services: Comprehensive Design-Build
Our Approach
Design & Planning
The design for Ascend transformed an obscure corner of Soaring Eagle Casino into an ideal place for guests to refresh themselves while watching sports events and live performances. To create a truly dynamic environment, color-changing lighting was integrated into the architecture throughout the space, providing an array of sweeping motions or soft fades to set the tone for the space.
The Tribe's objective was to create the ultimate sports and entertainment destination in the Michigan gaming market. The conceptual design for Ascend incoporated textures and elements to produce a destination that was superior to any of Soaring Eagle Casinos regional compeditors.
Offsite & Onsite Construction
In order to deliver the project on schedule and on budget, the majority of the construction was performed off-site. This allowed a high-impact destination to be built in parallel with demo and MEP upgrades to support the new venue. This parallel path to completion produced specialty interior wall and ceiling elements which were higher quality than could be built onsite and took weeks not months to implement onsite.
Custom faceted accent walls behind the stage, in the upper VIP seating area, and in the entry include back-lighting to produce an illusion of floating panels which helps to add dramatic accents throughout the space.
In two key areas within the venue, 126 individually suspended “Light Rods” produce an ever-changing display to accent the mood. Utilizing ambient sound-sensitive technology, the lighting rods produce a pulsating audio meter to represent the music being played.
The stunning entry provides an excellent focal point from the gaming floor, while functionally assisting with the planned sound isolation.
A high-end sound system was designed specifically for live entertainment events and was custom integrated with over 20 individual, time-aligned speakers throughout the space to provide guests with an immersive experience
Finished Project
The Ascend project succesfully delivered a highly memorable customer destination which increased the customer draw for Soaring Eagle Casino. The opening night for the venue was a huge success, and saw higher than typical customer counts for the entire property. Since opening, the team at Soaring Eagle has added a sportsbook component to this space, further enhancing the guest entertainment value and overall experience.
