Mohegan Sun’s Blues

A House of Blues venue and luxury hotel are among the construction projects Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun casino is forced to postpone with its Sept. 22 decision to delay about $734 million of planned expansion projects.

The Mohegan Tribal Council, faced with declining slot machine revenues, a jittery economy and huge construction costs, suspended the construction projects just one month after opening the new 64,000-square-foot Casino of the Wind. The remaining construction will be delayed at least a year as it is re-evaluated.

Mohegan officials told the Hartford Courant they do not plan to abandon the Project Horizon expansion but merely delay it until economic conditions improve.

“In one year, we will revisit the market, how we’re performing at the time and take a look at things again,” Mohegan Sun CEO Mitchell Etess told the paper.

The tribe estimates it has spent about $270 million on the expansion including $116 million on the Casino of the Wind. A Margaritaville restaurant recently opened adjacent to the new poker room.

Etess told the Courant that Mohegan Sun does not plan to halt any other projects in the works.

House of Blues parent company Live Nation declined to comment.