One of the contractors selected three months ago to build the Majestic Star Casino won't be attending next week's groundbreaking on the North Shore.

Hunt Construction Group, of Scottsdale, Ariz., withdrew from its agreement with PITG Gaming, said Bob Oltmanns, spokesman for PITG and Don Barden's Majestic Star.

A spokesman for Hunt didn't return a call yesterday.

In Hunt's place will be the Keating Group, of Philadelphia. Keating has had a hand in building Bally's Wild West Casino, the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, Tropicana Resort & Casino, and more than a dozen others. Daniel Keating, who established Keating Building Corp. in 1976, is also a major investor in Philadelphia's SugarHouse Casino project, still unbuilt.

Smoot Construction, of Columbus, Ohio, remains on board as a prime contractor with the Majestic Star project, Mr. Oltmanns said. They, too, were hired in September.

The decision to hire Smoot and Hunt came swiftly, just a week after Mr. Barden, a Detroit businessman, said he had begun the search for contractors to build his $450 million showcase casino. Mr. Oltmanns said he couldn't remember when Keating replaced Hunt.