Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel to Add High-Definition Video Sign Atop Hotel Tower

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. – Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel will soon brighten the Niagara Falls skyline and greet visitors in a big way. This morning, Seneca Gaming Corporation officials unveiled details about the construction of a 108-foot wide, 20-foot tall high-definition LED video sign that will be affixed to the top of the hotel tower, facing downtown Niagara Falls USA and Canada.

Construction workers with Las Vegas–based YESCO and local contractors are currently framing 64,500 pounds of steel atop the 357-foot, 26-story hotel tower and will soon attach 140 giant LED panels that will, in essence, operate like one giant HD television. The entire project will be complete later this month at a total cost of $1.9 million.

“Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel welcomes more than six million visitors each year and is an iconic building in Niagara Falls,” said Robert Mele, chairman of the board of directors, Seneca Gaming Corporation. “As a world-class, [AAA] Four Diamond Award–winning casino and hotel, it needs an equally world-class welcome sign.”

The project is a few years in the making, and the actual construction began in early May of 2012. As many as 12 highly-skilled workers have been on site every day for 11 hours a day, hauling 500 pounds of steel at a time up the Sixth Street side of the hotel tower and onto the roof for assembly. Starting next week after the steel frame is complete, the crews will begin piecing together the LED panels – the majority of which measure 32 by 64 inches and, altogether, weigh 20,580 pounds. Each individual panel light is spaced just 25 millimeters apart.

“The new hotel sign for Seneca Niagara Casino will be bright and versatile,” said Cathy Walker, president and CEO, Seneca Gaming Corporation. “Whether it displays an animated graphic that just says ‘CASINO’ or delivers information about the latest promotion or upcoming entertainment, it can do a little bit of anything with exceptional clarity that can be seen from many miles away.”

YESCO, short for Young Electric Sign Company, is one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of digital signs. Among its high-profile projects: the iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” welcome sign; the Fremont Street Experience graphic display system in downtown Las Vegas; the NBC Message Globe in New York City, and; most recently, signage and digital lighting for the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas and for General Motors’ global headquarters in Detroit.

YESCO’s latest project at Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel is a turn-key operation, as the company managed design, fabrication, product delivery, installation and the construction workers. Half of the 12-person crew is from YESCO, while the other half was contracted locally to help work with the hotel’s windows, rooftop and electrical systems.

“It has been a pleasure working with Seneca Gaming Corporation and expanding YESCO’s reach in the Eastern half of the U.S.,” said Vicky Moon, account manager, YESCO. “Niagara Falls is breathtaking area, and we know what an impact the hotel tower at Seneca Niagara Casino has for the skyline. So when Seneca Gaming Corporation approached us with the idea and said they wanted the sign to ‘pop,’ we knew just what they had in mind and were able to deliver.”

Seneca Gaming Corporation’s design and construction department worked in conjunction with YESCO to oversee planning and operations. In addition, because safety is the No. 1 concern for the project, Seneca Gaming Corporation and YESCO worked with the following local and regional consultants: Seneca Construction Management Corporation for overall safety issues; Wendel for structural issues; M/E Engineering for electrical issues and; Commonwealth Code Inspection Services, Inc. for code enforcement.

Seneca Niagara Casino first opened on December 31, 2002, inside the former Niagara Falls Convention Center. The hotel tower then opened three years later on December 31, 2005, and today remains the tallest hotel tower in New York State outside of Manhattan. It has achieved the coveted AAA Four Diamond Award for exceptional service and amenities every year since its opening.


Pictured, an artist's rendering the new HD video sign

Seneca Gaming Corp. photo

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