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By Dave Berns
Review-Journal
The scenery leaves many grasping for handrails. After all, Las Vegas casinos aren't meant to be watched from a catwalk tethered 50 feet above a craps table.
But there's John Hennesse
y wandering among the steel walkways that service the Rio's $25 million Masquerade Show in the Sky.
Below sits 950 feet of track that guides the parade floats that have been dubbed "the icing on the cake" for the $200 m
illion expansion of the off-Strip resort.
Rio executives say the expansion, with its 41-story hotel tower, is the fifth and final phase in the evolution of Anthony Marnell's 7-year-old property at Flamingo Road and Vall
ey View.
The resort opened in 1990 as a locals' property but has evolved into a tourist-driven site.
"The goal really is to expand the market base, and I think this will do it for us,
" said Thomas Roberts, a Rio vice president.
Hennessey's what's known as a
"control engineer" for Scenic Technologies, a New York-based company that
has helped developed the six-night-a-week Mardi Gras show.
; A nearby bank of computers operates five 22,000-pound floats that hover above the casino floor in shows scheduled every two hours.
The first shows are scheduled for 11 o'clock tonight and 1 a.
m. Saturday. They're free to the public and will run every day but Wednesdays.
"What's different between this and Broadway shows," Hennessey says, "are the levels of paperwork. There's definitely a lot more scrutiny." <
br> Wall Street gaming industry analysts are convinced the new tower with its 1,037 suites and 30,000 square feet of casino space will catapult the Rio into a new niche. The bottom half of the tower is open, with the remaini
ng floors scheduled to open by April.
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The expansion also adds:
--600 slot machines and 22 tables games to the Rio's existing 82,837-square-foot casino.
--22 retail stores, including th
e first Speedo swimwear outlet in Las Vegas, the largest Nicole Miller clothing store in the country, and the country's second largest Guess footwear store.
--Six restaurants, including French, Italian and Mexican eater
ies.
"I think they're going to alienate some of the locals market," said Jason Ader, a Bear Stearns Inc. analyst, "but that's fine. It's going to give Rio a chance to capture more of the Strip market."
The publicly traded company recently announced record revenue and earnings for the year ended Dec. 31.
Net income was $19.4 million, or 90 cents a share, when compared with $18.7 million, or 87 cents
a share, in 1995.
Cash flow was $55.6 million, or $2.59 a share, in 1996, when compared with $51.8 million, or $2.40 a share, in 1995.
"They've done an admirable job of enhancing tha
t property," said Bruce Turner, a gaming industry analyst for Salomon Bros. Inc. "He's very patient. Tony Marnell won't be pushed around by Wall Street. He's not influenced by investor desire for instant return tomorrow."
; As for the future, Marnell is looking to an adjacent 35-acre parcel of land that could lead to a new resort with a different theme. The Rio's chairman and chief executive officer recently hired Dave Hanlon, an ex-president of International Game Technol
ogy, to help manage Rio's next move.
Marnell, who refused to release any details on expansion plans, simply said, "We're not going to grow just to grow."
Rio stock closed down 13 cent
s a share Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange at $15.50.
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