Irvine-based Kern County Associates LP has applied for a conditional use permit that, if approved next month by the county Planning Commission, could allow the company to proceed with construction of a new card room on vacant land at the northwest corner of Merle Haggard Drive and Landings Way.

People involved with the project say it is expected to be accompanied by restaurants and hotels that could attract customers near and far to an underutilized area that now serves mostly industrial uses.

They say residential and other new development near the airport is part of the attraction, along with easy freeway access and concerns with crime near Golden West’s existing home at 1001 S. Union Ave.

“They’re happy to move from Union,” project consultant Michael Bowers said Wednesday.

At 30,723 square feet, the new building would be almost 81% larger than the existing card room. It is proposed to include a restaurant and lounge on two parcels totaling 4.76 acres on property zoned for industrial use.

“I think they (Golden West’s owners) want to bring a better product to Bakersfield, meaning a better location — a location that has a lot more amenities to offer,” Bowers said. He noted that the plan calls for VIP rooms and live music that would make the business more fun for millennials.

“It’s going to be absolutely gorgeous ... (an) upscale place to come to,” he added.

Local commercial property broker David Williams at Colliers International, who has represented Kern County Associates LP, said a number of retail-type businesses have already purchased property nearby in hopes the area will fill out with consumer-friendly land uses.

"I think it will spur other growth,” he said of the casino’s power of attraction. “It’ll have some other, you know, destination-oriented types of uses out there.”

The site in question is located near Amazon’s large distribution center just north of Merle Haggard Drive. To the south stands several industrial buildings. New housing has been built in recent years along Merle Haggard Drive, and still more is in development stages.

A representative of ASU Commercial, which works with landowners on both sides of Merle Haggard around Landings Way, said the card room’s owners considered a location south of the proposed site but that the property’s owners wanted to lease, not sell. Owners on the north side, however, were more agreeable to a land sale.

A hearing by the Planning Commission is scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Kern County Board of Supervisors chambers at 1115 Truxtun Ave. Only if there is an appeal would the proposal then go before county supervisors.

A senior county official noted the card room would not need a new state license because the project amounts to a relocation.

Hard Rock is working with the Tejon Indian Tribe to develop a complex northwest of South Sabodan and Wild Flower streets that would dwarf even the larger Golden West Casino.

They have received state approval for an 11-story, 400-room hotel with a 165,500-square-foot casino featuring 3,000 slots, 13 restaurants, an entertainment venue, a spa-fitness center and convention space. The project would include a 22-acre RV park, as well as tribal administrative offices, a health care facility and tribal housing.

A spokesman for the project has declined to share an estimate of when construction might break ground. But he said that once construction starts, the project is expected to take 18 to 20 months to build.

By Casey Christie