Posted on: December 27, 2024, 09:53h.
Last updated on: December 27, 2024, 09:53h.
The Catawba Indian Nation’s former partner on its $700 million Two Kings Casino development in North Carolina’s Kings Mountain has sued the tribe on trespassing and property damage claims.
Filed in Cleveland County Civil Superior Court, Kings Mountain Land Development Partners, LLC, (KMLD) seeks at least $125K in damages for “repeated and blatant abuses” inflicted by the Catawba Nation.
KMLD alleges that the tribe trampled easement rights, removed dirt and rock, completed unauthorized grading and sloping of the land, and repeatedly trespassed the property owned by the company.
KMLD is seeking a jury trial. The tribe has not yet responded to the civil complaint.
Friends to Foes
In 2018, the Catawba Nation agreed to purchase 17 acres of land from KMLD, a company controlled by North Carolina businessman Wallace Cheves. The politically connected Cheves, a Republican megadonor and ally of President-elect Donald Trump, was instrumental in convincing the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs to take the land into the federal trust to allow a tribal casino to be built on the property.
While the DOI agreed that the tribe had ancestral ties to the land and therefore deemed it sovereign, the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) rejected the business arrangement for Two Kings between the Catawba Nation and Cheves’ Kings Mountain Sky Boat Gaming, LLC.
The federal agency tasked with enforcing the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act ruled that the Two Kings Casino must primarily benefit the tribe — not a commercial business like Sky Boat. The NIGC also took issue with Cheves having a stake in a tribal casino. Cheves previously paid millions of dollars in civil and criminal fees for operating illegal video poker and electronic bingo casinos in several states.
The NIGC decision forced the Catawbas to sever ties with Cheves. The tribe paid Sky Boat an undisclosed separation fee and paid Cheves an eye-opening $40 million for another 9.4 acres of land adjacent to the original 17 acres.
In exchange, Cheves provided the tribe with two easement rights from the remaining 37.6 acres he owns surrounding the casino development site to allow the permanent resort to be built.
Now, Cheves alleges that the tribe is acting as if it has free rein to do whatever it wishes on the easement property.
Casino Plan
The Catawba Nation has operated a temporary casino in Kings Mountain since July 2021. Work on the permanent facility began this past June.
The first phase of the permanent resort, set to open in early 2026, is to include a casino floor with 1,350 slot machines, 12 live dealer table games, a sportsbook, and a restaurant.
If business goes as planned, the tribe says a subsequent development phase will greatly expand the gaming space to house more than 4,000 slots and 100 tables. The expansion also would bring a 400-room hotel to the casino and more dining and drinking venues.
Delaware North, the New York-based gaming and hospitality conglomerate, partnered with the tribe after its relationship with Cheves dissolved. Delaware North helped the Catawba secure new financing for the $700 million undertaking and will operate the property on the tribe’s behalf once complete.