By: Jessica Cihacek
jcihacek@kcautv.com
The owners of Fuji Bay, a sushi restaurant in downtown Sioux City, have been in business for 22 years.
While they have moved around some during that time, they like it where they're at. Right in the middle of the old Warrior Hotel and the Davidson Building.
So when talks began about a potential casino moving in, workers there, felt threatened. Would they have to relocate? Be forced out of business, altogether?
Not at all, says Lew Weinberg. He's the owner of the Davidson Building. And along with members of Ho Chunk Inc., he's an investor in the project. He wants to find a place for local businesses, like Fuji Bay, within the proposed Warrior Casino & Hotel.
It's an idea that certainly sounds promising to Fuji Bay employees.
Sang Lam, an employee at Fuji Bay, says, "It probably would attract more business, you know, more people, we'd have a bigger place."
Weinberg says, that's what Ho Chunk is all about: continuing what downtown Sioux City already has going for it, including the precious history that comes with a building like the Davidson.
Weinberg says, "I personally believe that these buildings have a soul of their own and every person that's involved with them leaves a little bit of an indent in them. I think it instills a lot of community pride to see them taken, brought back from the grave, rather than torn down."
And when it comes to the lack of "branding," that might be Hard-Rock's biggest selling point, Ho Chunk CEO, Lance Morgan, says, "Siouxland doesn't need a well-known brand to validate the greatness it already has."
