Circa Resort & Casino | |
---|---|
![]() | |
![]() Circa Resort & Casino, October 2020 | |
Location | Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 |
Address | 8 Fremont Street |
Opening date | October 28, 2020 (casino and amenities) December 28, 2020 (hotel) |
No. of rooms | 512 |
Total gaming space | 8,002 sq ft (743.4 m2) |
Signature attractions | Stadium Swim Sportsbook Garage Mahal |
Notable restaurants | Barry's Downtown Prime Sagainaw's Delicatessen Victory Burger 8 East Project BBQ |
Casino type | Land-based |
Owner | Derek Stevens Greg Stevens |
Architect | Steelman Partners |
Coordinates | 36°10′18″N115°8′44″W / 36.17167°N 115.14556°W Coordinates: 36°10′18″N115°8′44″W / 36.17167°N 115.14556°W |
Website | www |
Circa Resort & Casino is a casino and hotel resort in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, on the Fremont Street Experience. The property was previously occupied by the Las Vegas Club hotel-casino, the Mermaids Casino, and the Glitter Gulch strip club. Circa is owned by brothers Derek and Greg Stevens, who also own other downtown casinos. They purchased the Las Vegas Club in 2015, followed by the acquisition of Mermaids and Glitter Gulch. The three businesses were demolished in 2017, and construction on Circa began in February 2019, with an opening initially scheduled for December 2020.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, new safety precautions were put in place and the project faced disruptions in its supply chain, both causing an alteration in the construction schedule. As a result, construction on the first five floors was expedited for an early opening on October 28, 2020. The opening included a two-story casino, a three-story sportsbook by Circa Sports, five restaurants, and a six-tiered swimming pool area. The hotel portion opened on December 28, 2020, with 512 rooms. It is the tallest building in the Fremont Street area, and the first new hotel-casino to be built there since 1980.
In August 2015, brothers Derek and Greg Stevens purchased the Las Vegas Club, located at 18 Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas. The Stevens also owned the nearby Golden Gate Hotel and Casino and The D Las Vegas. They closed the Las Vegas Club in August 2015. [1] Derek Stevens initially considered renovating the Las Vegas Club, but he disliked its design and decided to demolish it entirely to build a new resort in its place. [2]
In 2016, the Stevens purchased the nearby Mermaids Casino and the Glitter Gulch strip club. [3] [4] The additional property opened new possibilities for a larger version of the Stevens' upcoming resort, and the brothers took additional time to determine specifics about the new project. [5] Mermaids and Glitter Gulch closed later in 2016, with plans to demolish them to make more room for the new resort. [3] [4] That year, Derek Stevens also purchased a 2-acre site across the street from the Las Vegas Club, between the Plaza Hotel & Casino and the Main Street Station. The property would become the site of the new resort's eventual parking garage. [2] [6] The Las Vegas Club, Mermaids, and Glitter Gulch were demolished in 2017. [1] [7]
Derek Stevens had initially planned to build a resort on the site called Lucky Line, designed by Paul Steelman. It would have been a 500-foot skyscraper with an observation deck and rooftop restaurant, similar to the nearby Strat tower. [8] The new resort project was once referred to as "18 Fremont" because of its address, [9] although the final street address of the resort is 8 Fremont Street. [10] By May 2018, the project was planned to include a 459-foot-tall hotel, making it among the tallest buildings in downtown Las Vegas. This raised FAA concerns about height and airspace due to the project's proximity with the North Las Vegas Airport. [7] The new resort, with a height of 459 feet, was approved by the Las Vegas City Council in July 2018. [11]
On January 10, 2019, the resort's name was unveiled as Circa Resort & Casino, [12] [13] during a party at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center. [2] The name is a homage to the history of Las Vegas, [14] including past casino builders such as Benny Binion, Jackie Gaughan, Jay Sarno, and Sam Boyd. [15] A video montage explained the resort's name, listing examples of earlier well known Las Vegas properties and their establishment dates and founders, such as, "Circa 1941, Jackie Gaughan, El Cortez. Circa 1951, Benny Binion, Binion's Horseshoe. Circa 1966, Jay Sarno, Caesars Palace. Circa 1969, Kirk Kerkorian, International." The video further stated that the announcement of Circa's name would one day be referred to as, "Circa January 2019." Other names were considered, including Overland, which was the original name of the Las Vegas Club; and The Mint, which was the name of a former property adjacent to the Las Vegas Club. Circa was scheduled to open in December 2020. [12] [2] Derek Stevens intended for the resort to be opened prior to 2021 for tax advantages. [16] [17]
Circa was designed by Steelman Partners. The construction manager was Tré Builders, while McCarthy Building Companies Inc. was the general contractor. [18] Construction began in February 2019. [10] [19] The tight size of the property meant that only three days' worth of materials could be delivered at a time. Parts of the resort were prefabricated off-site and then transported to the construction site for integration into the resort. [19] A concrete pour took place in April 2019, with an estimated 2,100 cubic yards (1,600 m3) of concrete. [16] As of June 2019, there were nearly 600 construction workers on the project, including approximately 200 workers on the main property and approximately 40 workers on Garage Mahal. Construction progressed with a continuous schedule. The 1.25-million sq ft (116,000 m2) project began vertical construction that month. [17] The resort's HVAC system was built to dispense air from the floor rather than the ceiling, eliminating a common problem with cigarette smoke lingering on casino floors. [20]
Beginning in October 2019, the project had approximately 1,000 construction workers. Three months later, construction reached the 23rd floor. [21] The COVID-19 pandemic occurred during construction, having various effects in Nevada. A Circa construction worker tested positive for COVID-19 in April 2020. [22] Social distancing had been implemented as a safety precaution for COVID-19, and this meant that fewer workers were allowed to work on the upper floors. [23] The construction elevator, normally capable of holding 15 workers, had its capacity reduced to less than five as a pandemic safety measure. [19] The project also faced disruptions in its construction supply chain, another result of the pandemic. Rather than finish the entire resort before opening, the Stevens agreed to a new proposal from the construction team to expedite work on the first five floors, including the casino and pool. The lower floors provided wide-open spaces for social distancing and they were more easily accessible than the upper floors. [19] [23]
The Circa hotel tower was topped out on June 19, 2020. [24] The tower includes 175,000 sq ft (16,300 m2) of glass paneling. [25] The tower's north side features a giant video screen which promotes the resort. It was built by Daktronics, and measures 228 feet tall and 52 feet wide. [26] During construction, a minor error occurred on the west side of the tower's 30th-floor exterior. Mo Pierce, one of the project engineers, installed a white-colored glass panel in the wrong spot, making it stand out from the rest of the paneling. [19] [27] [28] By mid-2020, the mistake had gained an online following, and Derek Stevens said the misplaced panel was nicknamed as the "MoDot" and was used as a reference point: "(We'd say) plumbing is going on three floors below the MoDot, we're doing this above the MoDot. It became a noun, it became part of our regular vocabulary." [27] The MoDot was eventually removed, a few days after the resort's opening. [29] Circa was the first new hotel-casino to be built in downtown's Fremont Street area since the D Las Vegas, which originally opened as the Sundance in 1980. [2] [30] [31]
In June 2020, plans were announced to open the first five floors early, on October 28, while the hotel portion would open two months later. [23] [32] Derek Stevens also announced that Circa will be an adult-only property, stating that Las Vegas once held "a certain mystique as this fabulous place where only grown-ups could play. Call us old-fashioned, but we think adults need some of that mystique back in their lives." [33]
Circa hosted a VIP party for select guests on the night of October 27, 2020, followed by the public opening at 12:01 a.m. the next day. The opening included the casino, restaurants, and pool area. [34] [35] [36] Although the hotel's official opening took place on December 28, 2020, [37] [38] [39] hotel guests who booked for the opening day had the ability to check in two days early. Derek Stevens billed it as the world's earliest check-in. [40] [41] A total of 165 hotel guests participated in the early opening. [42] The hotel opened initially with 512 rooms, [43] [31] excluding the seven top floors; a decision about completing those will be made a year after the opening. Stevens said that waiting to finish the upper floors would allow time to determine what type of rooms each floor should have: standard rooms or suites. [44]
Circa is the first new hotel-casino to open in the Las Vegas Valley since the Lucky Dragon in 2016. [45] The resort has 1,500 employees, helping the city amid high unemployment rates caused by the pandemic. [46] Circa is expected to help bring tourism back to the downtown area, away from the Las Vegas Strip. [47] [48] [30] [49] As of 2021, Circa is the only property in the downtown area to have an AAA Four Diamond rating. [50] That year, it also won for best North American gaming property from Global Gaming Awards Las Vegas. [51]
Circa is located on 2.78 acres. [31] It has 35 floors and rises 480 feet. [52] [53] It is the among the tallest buildings in Las Vegas city limits. [lower-alpha 1] The hotel has 26 room types, ranging from 980 to 1,830 square feet. [56] Circa includes technological features, such as a tablet computer that allows hotel guests to control lighting and temperature, or to request housekeeping. Using an interactive online map, customers can also pay to reserve certain seating at restaurants, the pool, or the sportsbook. [57]
The resort's design includes references to past and modern Las Vegas history. [44] [58] Various forms of artwork, including murals, are featured throughout Circa. [59] The resort's lobby incorporates the former Vegas Vickie cowgirl sign that once advertised Glitter Gulch. [60] [18] [15]
Circa's nine-story parking garage, known as Garage Mahal, is located across the street from the resort. [2] [18] [32] It contains 982 parking spaces, artwork, a 22-foot chandelier, and an air-conditioned skybridge connecting it to the Circa resort. [61] [62] [63]
In September 2022, the resort is scheduled to open 35,000 sq ft (3,300 m2) of convention and meeting space on its third floor. [64]
Circa has six bars and lounges, [65] [66] including an 8,400 sq ft (780 m2) rooftop lounge known as the Legacy Club, which honors prominent Las Vegas figures. It includes busts of 11 prominent figures, [67] [68] [69] and a display of 500 gold bars. [70] [57] The lounge also has views of the Las Vegas Valley and includes patio seating. [70] [68]
A cocktail lounge known as Vegas Vickie's is located in the hotel lobby and contains the eponymous sign. Circa also has the longest outdoor bar on the Fremont Street Experience, and the state's longest indoor bar, known as the Mega Bar. [34] [65] It is a sister to the Longbar at the D Las Vegas, breaking its record for Nevada's longest indoor bar at 165 feet. [65] [71] Overhang Bar, located on the top floor of the sportsbook, is an homage to the right-field overhang in the original Tiger Stadium, located in Stevens' hometown of Detroit. [63] [72]
Circa includes a two-story casino, [18] [73] measuring 8,002 sq ft (743.4 m2), with 1,350 slot machines and 49 table games. [74]
Circa will heavily focus on sports betting. [75] Its three-story, stadium-style sportsbook was planned as the biggest in Las Vegas and is a prime aspect of the resort, [18] [76] [77] unlike other newer resorts in Las Vegas that place less emphasis on sportsbooks. [75] The book is operated by Circa Sports, and is the company's flagship location, [78] with seating for 1,000 people. [61] [79] It includes a three-story, high-definition 78 million megapixel television screen, built at a cost of approximately $20 million. [75] [80] Up to 10 people are required to operate the screen. [81] Derek Stevens said that the sportsbook would be the largest in the world, beating out the 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2) SuperBook at the Westgate Las Vegas. [82] [83]
Stevens' vision for the sportsbook was inspired by his initial visits to the books at Caesars Palace and the Hilton (now the Westgate), both of which he considered impressive. [18] [15] The sportsbook also includes a broadcasting studio for the Vegas Stats & Information Network, [84] [85] and Circa is expected to become the center of sports wagering in downtown Las Vegas. [86] The resort will build upon Circa Sports' reputation for allowing sharp bettors. [87]
Circa's rooftop pool area is known as Stadium Swim, and is located above the casino. [15] [88] Stadium Swim includes six pools and measures 15,756 sq ft (1,463.8 m2), with capacity for 4,000 people. [89] It includes a six-tiered pool area with a 143-foot screen [90] made of 14 million megapixels, [53] [18] [76] as well as a DJ booth and two swim-up bars. [91] Sporting events will be primarily shown on the pool's television screen. [75] The pool is temperature-controlled, allowing it to remain open year-round. Derek Stevens expects the pool to become a top tourist destination, and he envisions the pool as becoming the greatest in the history of the world. [92] A three-story escalator, [93] the tallest in Las Vegas, transports people to Stadium Swim. [62] The pool area has become a popular location for parties. [94] [95]
Circa has several restaurants, including some operated by people from the Stevens' home state of Michigan. [96] [97] [98] Those restaurants include:
The Strat Hotel, Casino and SkyPod is a hotel and casino located in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It includes a 1,149 ft (350.2 m) observation tower, the tallest in the United States. It is also the second-tallest observation tower in the Western Hemisphere, surpassed only by the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario. The tower is topped by a pod which includes a revolving restaurant, lounges, and observation decks. The top of the tower also has several thrill rides. The hotel and casino facilities are situated at the base of the tower, and the resort also includes a showroom and a shopping mall. The Stratosphere is located within city limits on Las Vegas Boulevard, just north of the Las Vegas Strip. The resort is sometimes considered to be a Strip property, although Clark County does not officially recognize it as such, stating that the Strip does not extend into city limits.
The Park MGM, formerly Monte Carlo Resort and Casino, is a megaresort hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel, with a height of 360 ft (110 m), has 32 floors, including a 102,000-square-foot (9,500 m2) casino floor with 1,400 slot machines, 60 table games, and 15 poker tables. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International. The hotel offers 2,992 guest rooms, including 259 luxury suites. The Monte Carlo was converted into Park MGM between late 2016 and 2018, with the upper floors being converted into a boutique hotel, NoMad Las Vegas.
The Venetian Las Vegas is a luxury hotel and casino resort located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States, on the site of the old Sands Hotel. Designed by KlingStubbins, the hotel tower contains 36 stories and rises 475 feet (145 m). The Venetian is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Apollo Global Management. The Venetian resort complex includes the adjacent Palazzo resort and The Venetian Convention and Expo Center center, as well as the upcoming MSG Sphere at The Venetian. The Venetian-Palazzo complex includes the world's second-largest hotel, with 4,049 rooms, 3,068 suites and a 120,000-square-foot (11,000 m2) casino.;
Riviera was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada, which operated from April 1955 to May 2015. It was last owned by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which decided to demolish it to make way for the Las Vegas Global Business District.
The Linq is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. It opened as the Flamingo Capri in 1959, on property located directly north of the original Flamingo resort. The Flamingo Capri was a 180-room motel, owned by George E. Goldberg and Flamingo employee Bill Capri.
The Golden Gate Hotel & Casino is located at One Fremont Street in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. A part of the Fremont Street Experience, it is the oldest and smallest hotel on the Fremont Street Experience.
Palms Casino Resort is a hotel and casino located near the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. It includes 703 rooms and a 94,065 sq ft (8,738.9 m2) casino. It was originally owned by the Maloof family, and was primarily overseen by George Maloof. He purchased the site in 1997, and construction began three years later. The Palms opened on November 15, 2001, with Station Casinos and The Greenspun Corporation as minority owners. It included a casino, restaurants, nightclubs, and a 42-story hotel. The resort catered to local residents and tourists, and also became popular among celebrities and young adults. It has made several television appearances, and was the main setting for the 2002 reality television show The Real World: Las Vegas, which contributed to its fame.
Derek Stevens is an American businessman who owns several hotel-casinos in downtown Las Vegas. Stevens, along with his brother Greg, purchased the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino in 2008, followed in 2011 by Fitzgeralds, which they renamed as The D Las Vegas. He also owned the Las Vegas 51s baseball team from 2008 to 2013, and built the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center in 2014.
The Downtown Grand, formerly the Lady Luck, is a hotel and casino in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, owned by CIM Group and operated by Fifth Street Gaming. The Downtown Grand is the centerpiece of Downtown3rd, a new neighborhood and entertainment district in downtown Las Vegas.
Mermaids Casino was a casino located on the Fremont Street Experience in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada.
El Cortez, a hotel and casino, is a relatively small downtown Las Vegas gaming venue a block from the Fremont Street Experience and Las Vegas Boulevard. Slots, table games, and a race and sports book occupy one floor of the main pavilion, at this historic casino. It opened on Fremont Street on November 7, 1941, and is one of the oldest casino-hotel properties in Las Vegas, along with the nearby Golden Gate Hotel and Casino. Primarily Spanish Colonial Revival in style, it reflects a 1952 remodel when the façade was modernized. On February 22, 2013, the structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Las Vegas Club was a hotel and casino located on the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The Las Vegas Club opened in 1930, joining the Las Vegas Hotel which had opened in 1908. The Las Vegas Club was relocated across the street in 1949. At its new location, the Las Vegas Club operated within the Overland Hotel, which was established in 1905.
M Resort Spa Casino is a boutique hotel, spa, and casino in Henderson, Nevada. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Penn Entertainment. The property includes a 92,000 sq ft (8,500 m2) casino and a 16-story tower with 390 rooms. The M Resort is located eight miles south of the Las Vegas Strip, and is the southernmost casino in the Las Vegas Valley.
The D Las Vegas Casino Hotel is a 34-story, 639-room hotel and casino in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, owned and operated by Derek and Greg Stevens.
Resorts World Las Vegas is a resort, mall, and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada, United States. The property had been the site of the Stardust Resort and Casino until 2007, when Boyd Gaming demolished the resort to develop its Echelon Place project. Boyd halted construction in 2008 due to poor economic conditions and sold the property to Genting Group in March 2013. Genting immediately announced plans to redevelop the site as Resorts World Las Vegas, part of its Resorts World brand. The project re-used some of the partially finished Echelon buildings, including hotel and parking garage structures.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The Spanish Trader Antonio Armijo led a 60-man party along the Spanish Trail to Los Angeles, California in 1829 and found a natural steam water Land that was named Las Vegas.
Steelman Partners is an American international architecture and interior design firm specializing in entertainment architecture, interior design, lighting design, graphic design, 3D design, and master planning. The firm has designed casinos and integrated resorts around the world.
Virgin Hotels Las Vegas is a hotel and casino resort in Paradise, Nevada, east of the Las Vegas Strip. It previously operated as the Hard Rock Hotel from 1995 to 2020, before closing for renovations to be rebranded as Virgin Hotels.
Circa Sports is an American sportsbook operator based in Las Vegas. It was founded by casino owner Derek Stevens and began operations on June 1, 2019. It is named after Stevens' Circa Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The resort includes the company's flagship sportsbook, with 1,000 seats spread across three floors. Other locations in Las Vegas include the Golden Gate and The D Las Vegas, both owned by Stevens. It also launched online and mobile app betting in Colorado on July 1, 2020, through a partnership with Century Casinos. It expanded its mobile app operations to Iowa on October 7, 2021.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link)The biggest part of the transaction, literally and figuratively, is the 2,427-room Stratosphere and its 1,149-foot tower, the tallest freestanding observation facility in the United States. The site, technically, is just off the Strip within the Las Vegas city limits.
At 41 stories, Allure is officially the tallest residential building in the city of Las Vegas.
Spanning two stories and 8,002 square feet of gaming space, Circa's high-energy casino houses 1,350 top-of-the line slots, with downtown Las Vegas' famous Dancing Dealers presiding over 49 table games.