Even alleys and gutters get the glamorous touch at Foxwoods

Mashantucket - They're building something rare behind the drawn curtains near the Grand Pequot Hotel lobby at Foxwoods Resort Casino: a gilded bowling alley.

"We wanted to do something that was really over the top," Ed Kane, a principal of Big Night Entertainment, said above the construction din Tuesday as he led a tour of the site. "Something grand … one of a kind. … I think people are going to be surprised when they see it."

The idea that High Rollers, Big Night's $6 million luxury bowling lounge, would open in 10 days seemed shocking enough Tuesday, though casino contractors have been known to move mountains overnight.

In High Rollers' case, three shifts of workers have been hewing to a 14-week construction schedule, transforming 35,000 feet of conference- and meeting-room space into a 20-lane alley with a two-level piano lounge, two bars, private rooms, function space and a full kitchen.

This is week 13.

They've raised floors, lowered ceilings, papered walls and installed marble stairs, chandeliers and counter tops. Still to come are the custom iron railings, the 60 high-definition TV sets, a half-dozen pool tables, games and art work and the laying of huge rolls of custom-made and cut carpet.

It'll all be in place for private parties next Wednesday and Thursday and then a "soft" public unveiling Friday night, Kane said. High Rollers' grand opening is scheduled for Oct. 9, when celebrity Kim Kardashian is expected to be on hand.

Even in its not-nearly-finished state, Foxwoods' latest nongaming "amenity" conveys a sense of differentness, a feeling that it will be, as Kane said, "like no bowling alley anyone has every seen."

The décor alone seems likely to assure that.

"I like to call it the-1920s-meets-Bellagio look," Kane said.

Boston-based Big Night, which opened the Shrine nightclub in MGM Grand at Foxwoods in 2008 and The Scorpion Bar in Foxwoods in 2009, has learned a thing or two about the look of a place. JFS Design Studio of Boston, which designed Shrine, has also lent its touch to High Rollers.

"Shrine has been very successful with women," Kane said. "We want them to like our design. If the women like it, we'll get the men, too."

For all the openness that befits a former conference room, High Rollers promises a certain intimacy. No more than four of the bowling lanes are grouped together - six will be designated as VIP lanes - and three private rooms will accommodate groups of 20 to 100. Several columns were added to break up the space.

Kane and his fellow Big Night principals - Joe Kane, his brother, and Randy Greenstein - have been joined in the venture by Kevin Long, the executive chef at Shrine and Scorpion, who has concocted an eclectic High Rollers menu featuring cheese steaks, spring rolls and king crab melts.

When Big Night pitched its plan for a bowling alley, Foxwoods management needed some convincing, Ed Kane said, but not much.

"They were great about it," he said. "Typically, you'd expect a bowling alley to be in the basement or in the parking garage, but we're going to be right on the open floor (opposite the David Burke Prime steakhouse). Our commitment to them was that we'd build something that looks as good as the casino."

By next Wednesday, that surely will be the case. But it won't be flawless, Kane said, noting bowling's resurgent popularity in recent years.

"The drawback will be the 20 lanes," he said. "They just won't be enough."

b.hallenbeck@theday.com