BRISTOL, Tenn. (WJHL) – Thousands of jobs are en route to Bristol once the new Hard Rock Casino is officially installed.

However, before the permanent facility is built, officials with Hard Rock are first focusing on opening, staffing, and operating a temporary facility at the old Bristol Mall property.

According to Hard Rock International Chief Operating Officer, Jon Lucas the plans to open the temporary facility are still on track for summer 2022.

While the overall project will bring anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 jobs, the temporary facility, which is the focus at this time, will bring about 300 jobs to the area.

Lucas said those jobs will consist of a wide variety of hospitality-based jobs. Officials with Hard Rock hosted a vendor information session Friday morning and will be hosting an employee information session on Saturday. While the event on Saturday is open to the public, registration has already filled up.

Lucas told News Channel 11 they had a great turnout with almost 200 people in attendance Friday morning.

He elaborated why hosting a session like this is so important to their overall goal. “The real purpose of that was to explain the vendor licensing process, to explain some of the goods and services that we use, explain what our process is as a company for vetting the vendors and hopefully giving them an opportunity to see where they can grow their business ad help us to grow our business,” he said.

Lucas said they will begin a dealers training school within the next few weeks, which overall, will be a 6-week process. He said for some opportunities, people attending Saturday’s session could be hired in the next few weeks and start their new position as soon as 30 days from now.

The majority of those first jobs will be security and surveillance-based as they begin to prepare the temporary facility to open.

He said the goal is to boost the economy through these new job opportunities. “The community, in general, has embraced us and been awesome and Friday was just another example with the turnout we had. We just think we’re going to provide a first-class, quality facility here in Bristol, Virginia for the entire region to enjoy,” said Lucas.

Additional information sessions will be held down the road, but dates for those sessions have yet to be set.

Lucas said as of Friday, they remain on track to open the permanent facility by June 2024.