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A spa suite at the new 24-story tower at the Stratosphere. The tower will add 1,002 hotel rooms, a 67,000-square-foot pool and recreation area and a 24-hour coffee shop with a buffet. Photo by John Gurzinski.

Thursday, November 02, 2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

CASINO EXPANSION: New tower topping off

Stratosphere expansion will add 1,002 rooms

Stratosphere marketing director Chuck Davison believes the property's new 24-story tower will allow it to compete with larger operations on the Strip's south end.

"We will have the room inventory to be a major player in the market," he said. "With both towers, we will have 2,446 rooms."

At 4 p.m. today, a crane is scheduled to hoist Elvis and Ricky Martin impersonators atop the under-construction tower, where the duo will unveil a banner and sing during a topping-off ceremony.

The centerpiece of a $65 million expansion, the tower will add 1,002 hotel rooms, a 67,000-square-foot pool and recreation area and a 24-hour coffee shop with a buffet.

The expansion will also add 100 seats to the 385-seat Stratosphere Buffet in the old tower. Both the new tower and the expanded buffet are projected to open July 1.

In the interim, Davison said the Stratosphere is retooling under owner Carl Icahn.

Icahn also owns Arizona Charlie's and Arizona Charlie's East in Las Vegas and ranks 53rd on Forbes magazine's recent list of the wealthiest Americans with a net worth of $4.5 billion.

Stratosphere public relations manager Mike Gilmartin said Icahn brings financial stability to a property that went through Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1998. Gilmartin said management can now work on building a successful hotel-casino.

"We're not so focused on staying open and staying afloat because we have the financial resources to make changes," Gilmartin said.

Gilmartin said one of the Stratosphere's challenges is to carve out a gambling identity for the Strip's north end, much as the megaresorts have done on the Strip's south end and locals-oriented properties have done for the downtown area.

"Location was an issue in the early years because of the perceptions of crime in the area, but now the area is being built up," he said. "Once everything is complete, we'll step back and look at how this property fits into the gaming community."

Stratosphere executives have already approached developers of the proposed 3.8-mile Strip monorail on extending the planned MGM Grand-to-Sahara line to its property.

In addition, new games are being introduced to win more patrons. The property's "Guaranteed Winners" promotion lets first-time slot players from out of town play for 30 minutes and to recoup their losses up to $125, plus 10 percent. For instance, if a gambler loses $25 in 30 minutes, that player will get paid $27.50.

Davison said the Stratosphere is considering a new ride to accompany its High Roller roller coaster and the Big Shot, which shoots passengers 160 feet in the air.

Icahn is also planning to buy Stratosphere's adjacent shopping mall through American Real Estate Partners, a publicly held company in which he owns about 85 percent of the shares.