Caesars Plans To Expand EmpireHard Rock Purchase Doesn't Include VegasPOSTED: 7:26 am HST December 12, 2006 More than 1,000 hotel rooms, an expanded casino, more restaurants, more convention space and more shopping will be added to Caesars Palace under a plan being presented to the county this month.The addition is not, on the surface, a part of the massive redevelopment of Harrah's properties on the other side of the street but is almost definitely going to be tied into that project, whatever it may be.Most of the new construction at Caesars will happen where the existing "Roman plaza" is now located, right at the corner of Flamingo and the Strip, conveniently facing the heart of its Harrah's to Paris empire. If approved, construction could begin as early as this spring but probably won't happen until Harrah's sorts out the question of what company, if any, is going to pony up the more than $15 billion required to buy Caesars Palace. You may have read that the Seminole Tribe of Florida purchased the Hard Rock chain for nearly $1 billion last week, but the Las Vegas hotel, casino and restaurant were not included in the deal. The Vegas location was not owned by the same company that owned the bulk of the locations around the country.Founder Peter Morton held onto the Vegas location after selling the rest of the chain to a British company. He recently sold the Vegas Hard Rock to the Morgans Hotel Group.Speaking of which -- Morgans is seeking approval to move forward on plans to expand the Las Vegas Hard Rock. On the boards are a 349-room hotel tower and expanded casino, shopping, dining and meeting space.The new buildings between the Hard Rock Cafe and the main hotel building, where there is now a parking lot. Additional parking will be added to the structure. If it all works out the way the owners want, expect to see the bigger Hard Rock up and running by late 2008. A new law that would have banned smoking in all restaurants, many smaller casinos, convenience stores and other locations has been put on hold by a judge after a lawsuit was filed suggesting it was unconstitutional. The law was supposed to go into effect Dec. 8, but the judge's temporary restraining order means that won't happen until after a hearing later in December.This law would most likely never be noticed by most Las Vegas visitors, since large casinos and most bars and nightclubs are exempt. However, it does cover the restaurants in the major casinos. Many restaurants had already gone no-smoking of their own volition, but this law would force all of them, including buffets, to remove the ashtrays, even in their lounge and bar areas. In an interview in the Las Vegas Sun, casino impresario Steve Wynn said he has decided to go topless at his next casino-hotel.No, not like that.Original plans had the pool area at Encore, the sequel to Wynn Las Vegas, under a giant retractable glass roof, but those plans have been dropped. Instead, the pool area will be open to the sky -- like most of the others in town -- and will feature some sort of giant water attraction that Wynn is not divulging the details of yet.Encore is expected to open in 2008. It's been a little chilly in Vegas lately -- by which I mean downright cold. So imagine getting up in your posh Vegas hotel room and heading in for a nice hot shower only to find out that all that is coming out is cold water.Such was the result last week after a gas main ruptured near the Strip that caused service to be shut off at nearly a dozen major hotels such as Wynn Las Vegas, Bellagio, The Venetian, Mandalay Bay, the MGM Grand and many others. The outage affected hot water supplies for the rooms and cooking capabilities in most of the hotels' restaurants. Some stayed open if they had some sort of cold sandwiches or similar items to serve, but others closed altogether.In addition, traffic was shut down on Tropicana Avenue for nearly five hours and the New York-New York parking garage was evacuated as a precaution while workers fixed the line.The Full Story
Rick Garman is the head writer for Vegas4Visitors |
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