Here’s what Graton Resort and Casino will look like after its $1 billion expansion

A Thursday ceremony marked the beginning of a $1 billion expansion of the Graton Resort and Casino just outside Rohnert Park.

The $825 million casino, owned and operated by the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria on its 254-acre reservation, opened in 2013 with 3,000 slot machines, 144 blackjack, poker and baccarat tables, and several restaurants to cater to visitors around the clock. A 200-room hotel, convention space and ballroom opened in 2018.

The addition of up to 2,000 additional slots would give the facility the second-largest slot floor in the state.

The planned expansion also calls for:

— A 28,000-square-foot rooftop restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating for 480 people

— A six-story, 221-room new hotel wing and a new pool area, to be built south of the existing hotel, bringing total rooms on the property to 421. (That’s 1.5 times the size of the next largest hotel property in Sonoma County, the Hyatt Regency Sonoma Wine Country hotel in Santa Rosa’s Railroad Square with 253 rooms.)

— A 3,500-seat theater, larger than the concert halls at the Green Music Center and Luther Burbank Center for the Arts

— A new five-story parking structure with approximately 1,500 stalls on the eastern most edge of the property. It will connect to the casino via a pedestrian walkway.