This week's Las Vegas Business Press discusses some older Strip properties including Tropicana, Stardust, Riviera and Imperial Palace. (The story was written before the announcement that Harrah's is buying IP.) Although they still meet the needs of certain visitors, there is increased pressure to renovate or replace them.
"Strip's Oldsters Await Mixed Future"
Comments
I would just like to add to your list of older strip properties that need some/a lot of change. My husband and I vacationed to Vegas for our second time, and many more to come, and stayed at Circus Circus. O.k. the idea of the indoor dome of fun/entertainment/games/rollercoasters is great, but the hotel and casino are old, smelly, and undesirable. This is one of the worst experiences we felt we could have had for accomadations and entertainment, especially coinsidering we were right on the strip still. The strip has been working through some great improvements, and I firmly beleive that it is time for Circus Circus also to become a part of this. Thank you.
The more of these old dumps that go, the better. Vegas didn't become the powerhouse it is today because of the Riviera or Stardust, it's because of Bellagio, Mirage, Venetian, and others like them.
This week's In Business Las Vegas has an article entitled, "Aztar May Have Missed Opportunity." I've thought for the past year that indecision on redeveloping the Tropicana property was a mistake. Now that the Strip is primarily controlled by two mega-comnpanies, can Aztar afford to go it alone on the Trop property? I'd be surprised if the Trop's 34 acres are worth anywhere near $20 million an acre. Costs are so high now to develop anything, a new Tropicana would cost over $1 Billion. Aztar would need to do it with someone else. To read the article:
http://inbusinesslasvegas.com/2005/08/26/gaming.html
Today's Vegas=one big, sterile, mall of the bland and predictable, the formulated, the focus group tested, the replicated and mcmansioned. Today's Vegas is for the fat, the unwashed,the tacky and the banal. Vegas isn't what it used to be when those "old" hotels ruled (still do in my book, I don't need a theme park to get my jollies, I don't need a mall either I would go to gamble, to dress up and be seen). This is the NAS-SCARRING of America. America isn't what it used to be, there is a disgustingly,gluttonous hunger from a country with a huge void that ...FYI won't ever be filled because the more you have, the more you want and it gets to be as interesting as a white wall. America's best years are behind it, culturally, economically and socially.