When most people talk about the transformation of Lincoln Park into Twin River, they tend to focus on the added video lottery terminals, the expansion and the new dining and entertainment options inside.
Yet as Gates, Leighton & Associates sees it, one of the most exciting parts of the $220 million project is the landscaping – a $1.5 million project led by the firm that involves “probably one of the most aggressive plantings in Rhode Island,” said the firm’s chairman, Wil Gates.
Gates, Leighton & Associates is not new to large, ambitious projects. Along with its New England projects, it has designed landscapes for vast luxury facilities in Egypt and the Dominican Republic, including resort and casino landscapes.
With Twin River, Gates said, the firm is working with “a world-class client attempting to generate a high-end entertainment and hospitality venue. So we’ve been in a design team with international architects and gaming consultants, and it has moved our company to a whole new level of architectural design.”
The landscape design follows the pattern of the whole renovation project, combining the grand style of Las Vegas casinos with elements that aim to anchor the project to its home state.
“We tried to use planting materials that represent a Rhode Island picture and had to blend that with the fact that Twin River is open year-round,” said Gates. “They had a vision that it should relate to Rhode Island and tell a Rhode Island story. They’ve done that with their interior, and the goal of our landscape was to fulfill that vision in that area.”
Given that this is the Ocean State, “what we did was try to capture the coastline and the many assets of the coastline,” said Arthur Eddy, vice president of administration for Gates, Leighton & Associates. “We included beach sand, river stone, and as you move farther along, you see boulders representing some of the ledgier areas of the Rhode Island coastline.”
When the project is completed, Eddy said, visitors first arriving on the grounds will see large boulders. Then, as they drive into the facility, the boulders will transition into river stone mulch, then into beach sand – and then back into river stone and back to boulders.
“If you think of Narragansett, the big-boulder shoreline goes into pebbly rocky beaches that then go into the sandy beaches. And the design weaves in and out, much how the Rhode Island coastline is formulated,” Eddy said.
Then, as visitors approach the west entrance and the sail-like porte coch?re, they will see a landscaped Providence inspired “cityscape” made with granite slabs measuring between six and 12 feet high.
“[The cityscape] is in the center of this large planting,” said Eddy. “Boulders wrap around the edges and in the center is this large granite cityscape. The shoreline culminates with a granite city scheme.”
The landscape will also include a vast array of evergreens, spruces and firs to give year-round foliage and colorful native perennials for the spring and summer months.
Cynthia Stern, vice president of public relations for Twin River, said she feels the landscape project has gone extremely well.
“With the different types of stone, the plants and the gravel everything is reflective of different parts of Rhode Island, and I think the coastline is very impressive,” she said.
“And it’s not only reflective,” she added, “but welcoming. I think it’s great. It has really changed the look and feel of the property, and we’re not even done. There’s still more to be completed and more to be seen.”
The landscaping project is scheduled to be completed at the end of August in time for the grand opening on Labor Day weekend.
Eddy said being part of the Twin River project has been “truly exciting” for the firm. Gates agreed.
“Our clients at Twin River have been very open and aggressive with what they’re trying to achieve,” said Gates. “And what’s exciting is the competition is Las Vegas, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, and this transcends the whole Rhode Island landscape and makes it an international venue.”
