A contractor finishes some detail work around the new pool at the Mill Casino-Hotel Monday. The pool, as well as an upstairs arcade, business center, fitness room and two outdoor hot tubs, will be completed some time in July.-World Photo by Alex Powers

NORTH BEND — As the billboards say: It’s a very big deal.

It is – at least for potential tourism in the area and for the heads of The Mill Casino-Hotel, who will open the doors of the hotel’s new tower on Thursday.

Two years and a lot of concrete have gone into the construction of the tower, which adds 92 rooms to the Mill’s existing 112. Even more important to Mill executives and tourism leaders are five meeting/ breakout rooms that will accommodate a variety of conferences.

“It was the one area we were lacking, we couldn’t supply that,” said Katherine Hoppe, the director of promotion and conventions for the Coos Bay-North Bend Visitors and Convention Bureau.

The area already has a hotel that can handle conferences of 200, Hoppe said. But with the Mill’s addition, many more people are expected to travel to Coos County for conventions.

“For me, my favorite part about it is the breakout rooms. It opens up our capabilities to bring more conventions to the area.”

Though guests will begin staying in the tower on the evening of the grand opening, work is still under way. On Tuesday, a tour through the building’s seven floors gave way to the sharp smell of wet paint, the rhythm of nail guns and the commotion of bustling workers. Some men worked atop ladders while others hustled down hallways filled with boxes, tool belts and patio furniture over a dusty carpet. On many of the hotel room doors, white paper signs told workers to stay out unless they had business inside.

Mill spokesman Ray Doering said Coquille Economic Development Corp. — the business arm of the Coquille Indian Tribe — hopes to have the tower completely ready by Thursday night. But with some tile work, painting, carpentry and moving to be done, he couldn’t give a firm answer when it would be finished.

“Everybody is trying to get it done,” he said.

Regardless, the hotel is nearly booked up next weekend for The Mill’s annual July 3 fireworks show. Guests also are coming this weekend for the eighth-annual International Lumberjack Competition. (See related story.)

“A lot of our regular visitors, they’ve been living with construction for some time now,” Doering said. “They’ve been looking forward to a chance to spend a night in the new hotel.”