MORONGO BAND OF MISSION INDIANS OPENS DOORS TO MAJOR NEW ADMINISTRATIVE COMPLEX

Morongo Indian Reservation, Banning, Calif., February 26, 2009

The Morongo Band of Mission Indians today announced the grand opening of its new Administrative Complex, built  to consolidate all of its administration offices and Tribal Council government affairs functions in one central location.

The state-of-the-art complex reflects the growth and diversity of the Tribe's business interests, and the expanded services it provides to members of the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.

Fittingly, the complex is located on Pumarra Road, meaning "all of Morongos" and is designed as a modern interpretation of traditional Southwest Native American architecture.

The complex consists of a contemporary 67,000-square-foot administrative center and a sophisticated 8,600 square foot tribal meeting facility built to function as the center of all Morongo's tribal affairs.   

"Our first Tribal hall was nothing more than four walls and a dirt floor, and look at where we are today," said Robert Martin, Chairman, Morongo Band of Mission Indians.  "The Morongo Band of Mission Indians has had it struggles and successes.  Today is our time to celebrate past, present and future with our members and the larger community in which we are proud to be a good neighbor and a driver of economic development in the region."

The new, two-story administrative building houses a wide variety of tribal administrative functions and includes offices for numerous departments, conference rooms, a courtroom, warehouse and storage spaces.  A courtyard space for visitors and employees to relax and enjoy the desert landscape connects the administrative building to the Tribal Council Chambers.

The striking, round-shaped Tribal Council Chambers includes a 240-seat gathering room with state-of-the-art electronics and sound, a commercial kitchen outfitted to handle large-scale, catered events and food services for meetings. There is also a dedicated audio-visual room, conference room and dining area inside the Tribal Council Chambers.

"Now that all of our administrative and Tribal operations are centralized, we can streamline our activities and serve our tribal members more efficiently and effectively," said Chairman Martin.  "Building the Administrative Complex is just another example of how the Tribe continues to keep pace with the needs of its people and providing support to enable us to succeed in the years to come."

The complex is just the latest example of the contributions that the Morongo Band of Mission Indians makes to the local economy, driving investment and job creation.

"The Morongo people continue to be great neighbors and economic partners for all of us in Riverside County," said Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley.  "The contribution - in terms of the 2,800 jobs the Tribe provides, demand for goods and services, construction and tax revenue - has a tremendous, positive ripple effect on both the local community and county as well as the state and nation."

"With its diversification into non-gaming businesses, the Tribe has become the largest private sector employer in the Banning-Beaumont region and is a major contributor to the Coachella Valley economy," said Banning Mayor Bob Botts.  "I congratulate the Tribe on this historic day and thank them for their contributions to our region."

To design the complex, the Tribe selected Gruen Associates, an architectural firm with more than 60 years of experience providing planning, urban design and landscape architecture to clients.  Among their notable projects are the design of the Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles Convention Center and the City of La Quinta's City Hall. 

"As with any architectural design, we look to marry the functional and less tangible emotional needs and desires of the people being served with the site's physical and social context," said Larry Schlossberg, Partner at Gruen Associates.  "In the case of the new Administrative Complex, we worked to provide Morongo with a beautiful, functional and scalable space for the Tribe to conduct business.  It sits comfortably within the reservation's desert landscape and climate and is expressive of the important role the Tribe plays within the community."

Located on 32,000 acres of tribal land in Banning, Calif., architects began designing the Administrative Complex in September 2006.  Construction started in November 2007 and the facility was completed in mid-January 2009.