Work is underway on the final work of the main building in the Castle Ridge development on the northeast side of Centralia. Photo by Pat Hodges.
The main building at the Castle Ridge development on the former Meadowoods County Club Grounds in Centralia is nearing completion, with the first private event planned in part of the facility this weekend. A full opening of the facility that has a grand ballroom that can hold 1,800 people and four restaurants is anticipated next month.
A tour was given to the media on Thursday as part of the 2nd annual Gary Gaetti Day celebration at the Gaetti Sports Academy which is part of the development. Greg Sutton is spearheading the development. He anticipates 160 jobs to be created once the first four phases are completed, which also includes lodges and cottages.
Sutton says the goal is to attract events from the two-million living within a four-hour radius.
“Over 2.5 billion dollars worth of event spend out of southern Illinois that goes elsewhere. About a billion of that is in weddings or other types of personal events and about 1.5 billion is corporate events. And that spend goes to Chicago or St Louis so it’s money that if we could attract some of that to stay here in southern Illinois, even if you can attract a tenth of that, that’s several hundred million dollars of economic development.”
Sutton says some of which will be open for public dining including an open-air rooftop facility. In addition to the inside facilities, there will be an outdoor patio that can accommodate up to 600 for events including music groups.
Other facilities still to come include a marina and kayaking facility.
“We are initially going to put 25 slips but we have the capacity to go up to 50 slips. Locally here the only public access is off of Point Park where you can launch your boat but there’s not a place you can slip your boat overnight. So here you can slip your boats and leave them overnight or we will also rent boats here as well.”
A longer-range plan is the development of a five-level underground parking facility and a 150 room motel overlooking Raccoon Lake.
An amphitheater is also being developed that could hold one to two thousand people. Sutton is hoping it will become a stop for some national tours as soon as this summer.
“There’s a lot of interest in doing these types of venues.”
Castle Ridge is already booking events into 2022 with the further distance being a person organizing an event from Eastern Tennessee.
Greg Sutton who is leading the Castle Ridge project explains its various components during a Thursday media tour. Photo by Pat Hodges.
Full outside view of the castle from the front. The other two sides of the building front on Raccoon Lake. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
