The Las Vegas Strip garners most of the attention when it comes to casino resorts in the real money gambling capital of the world. Years ago it all began downtown on Freemont Street with some of the most iconic casino properties in the world.
In a recent report on Las Vegas Review-Journal by Jamie Munks, it was revealed that plans for a new casino hotel and resort in the downtown area were overwhelmingly approved by the Las Vegas City Council. Located on Freemont Street, this will be the first bottom-up casino project in the downtown part of Las Vegas in quite some time. Check out the Las Vegas USA casino review.
How Does Downtown Casinos In Las Vegas Set to Build First New Casino in Years?
The developer of this project is Derek Stevens and he simply stated, “The time is right.” He was able to acquire the property that was previously the home to the Las Vegas Club, Mermaids and Glitter Gulch strip club. The first step in the process was to level those buildings last year.
In their place, Stevens has plans to build a 1 million plus-square-foot casino resort that will become a new icon of Fremont Street close to 500 feet in height. It will be located on the north side of the Freemont Street Experience and across the pedestrian mall where the Golden Gate casino is located.
Further specifics included in this report include a casino floor for real money gaming that will cover 117,740 square-feet. Stevens also has plans to build a resort-style hotel with 777 rooms. Also in the works is a parking garage that will house close to 1,200 parking spaces. The whole property will be accessible with a pedestrian bridge. Eventual expansion into online casino gambling under the property’s name has been mentioned as well.
Carolyn Goodman is the mayor of Las Vegas and her comment, “We’re finally building” summed up the sentiment of everyone involved in this exciting project. She is confident that the new casino hotel and resort will transform Freemont Street’s west end.
Las Vegas purists will be happy to know that Sassy Sally, which was another iconic figure that would kick her leg high over Glitter Gulch, will be brought back to life as part of the new casino’s façade. Also planned in conjunction with this project is a $33 million renovation of the Freemont Street Experience’s canopy LED display. The updated version will include new content and interactive elements.
Ward 5 Councilman Cedric Crear has been a firm supporter of this new casino project since its inception. He was quick to emphasize how beneficial it will be for local job creation in a part of town that has recently had a higher unemployment rate as compared to the entire city. He was quoted in this report as saying, “We need to do everything we can to provide opportunities.”
In a picture included on the Las Vegas Review-Journal website containing this article, it shows the old Las Vegas Club being razed with the Plaza Hotel and Casino in the background. The building was torn down late last year, but the report did not mention when Stevens plans to break ground on the new construction.
Donald Sloto
Donald Sloto grew up in Montreal Canada and has been in the casino gambling business for almost his entire life. He has watched his father work at the Montreal Casino where he has learn a great deal about slot machines, playing poker for real money and several other games. He writes part time for the PlaySlots4RealMoney.com review and gambling news website.
Donald Sloto
July 20, 2018
