NITRO, W.Va. -- Backhoes and power shovels clawed the first scoops full of dirt Wednesday as construction began on a 150-room hotel at Tri-State Racetrack & Gaming Center.

Officials for Hartman & Tyner Inc., which owns the racetrack and casino in Nitro, held an official groundbreaking ceremony for the new hotel on Wednesday. With Gov. Joe Manchin, Kanawha County Commissioner Hoppy Shores, Charleston Mayor Danny Jones and Nitro Mayor Rusty Casto looking on, Hartman & Tyner vice president Dan Adkins told about 100 people that the hotel was a long time in coming.

Hartman & Tyner bucked a trend when they bought the ailing racetrack in 1989, Adkins said. He said state lawmakers and track officials in West Virginia bucked another trend when they invented the "racino" -- a racetrack and casino on the same site -- in 1994. Since then, Adkins said, 11 states have built racinos.

Adkins said track officials were bucking yet another trend in expanding Tri-State despite a national recession and hard times for the gambling business.

When Kanawha County voters were asked to vote for adding table games like poker and blackjack at Tri-State in 2007, track officials promised 1,000 jobs, a 250-room hotel, a conference center and an entertainment complex.

Adkins said Tri-State has hired about 300 people so far, a figure that brings the track close to 1,000 employees. He said the scaled-back 150-room hotel to be built just to the east of the track and casino is the first phase of fulfilling that promise.

Manchin said state lawmakers required West Virginia's racetracks to make capital improvements in an effort to bring more jobs to the state. Regardless of whether state residents favor gambling, the governor said, adding table games creates good jobs with benefits.

"That's really what this is all about," Manchin said.

Adkins, Manchin, Jones, Shores and Casto then grabbed purple-handled shovels they plunged into a large pile of sand to symbolize the groundbreaking. At the same time, a backhoe and power shovel started digging dirt in earnest a few yards away.

"I've never turned sand before in West Virginia," quipped Manchin, referring to the state's notoriously claylike soil.

"I want you to know this is Miami sand," Adkins said.

Officials for Hartman & Tyner Inc., which owns the racetrack and casino in Nitro, held an official groundbreaking ceremony for the new hotel on Wednesday. With Gov. Joe Manchin, Kanawha County Commissioner Hoppy Shores, Charleston Mayor Danny Jones and Nitro Mayor Rusty Casto looking on, Hartman & Tyner vice president Dan Adkins told about 100 people that the hotel was a long time in coming.

Hartman & Tyner bucked a trend when they bought the ailing racetrack in 1989, Adkins said. He said state lawmakers and track officials in West Virginia bucked another trend when they invented the "racino" -- a racetrack and casino on the same site -- in 1994. Since then, Adkins said, 11 states have built racinos.

Adkins said track officials were bucking yet another trend in expanding Tri-State despite a national recession and hard times for the gambling business.

When Kanawha County voters were asked to vote for adding table games like poker and blackjack at Tri-State in 2007, track officials promised 1,000 jobs, a 250-room hotel, a conference center and an entertainment complex.

Adkins said Tri-State has hired about 300 people so far, a figure that brings the track close to 1,000 employees. He said the scaled-back 150-room hotel to be built just to the east of the track and casino is the first phase of fulfilling that promise.

Manchin said state lawmakers required West Virginia's racetracks to make capital improvements in an effort to bring more jobs to the state. Regardless of whether state residents favor gambling, the governor said, adding table games creates good jobs with benefits.

"That's really what this is all about," Manchin said.

Adkins, Manchin, Jones, Shores and Casto then grabbed purple-handled shovels they plunged into a large pile of sand to symbolize the groundbreaking. At the same time, a backhoe and power shovel started digging dirt in earnest a few yards away.

"I've never turned sand before in West Virginia," quipped Manchin, referring to the state's notoriously claylike soil.

"I want you to know this is Miami sand," Adkins said.

Charleston-based Silling Associates will design the building, and Agsten Construction Co., also of Charleston, will build the hotel using local, union labor.

Racetrack executives have until August 2010 to have the hotel up and running or they face a $2.5 million annual penalty. Adkins conceded the construction schedule is tight, but said the hotel should be finished in time.

Construction of the hotel was delayed by a bad economy, while racetrack officials figured out how they would pay for the project.

Adkins said Wednesday Hartman & Tyner will pay for the hotel out of company revenues.

"There is no budget for this project," he said. "What it takes [to build it] is what it takes."

Adkins said Hartman & Tyner has spent about $64 million at Tri-State since buying it in 1989.

Adkins said Hartman & Tyner intends to build the conference center and other parts of the expansion project in stages, with the next phase probably being the entertainment complex.

He couldn't say how long it would take before the entire expansion is finished.

Track officials have adopted a Mardi Gras theme for the main racetrack and casino. Adkins said further construction will have a New Orleans-inspired theme to complement the track.

"Even the outside facades are going to look like Bourbon Street," he said.

Reach Rusty Marks at rustyma...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1215.