Golden Gate renovations include expanded casino floor; new lobby next
Visitors to the Golden Gate in downtown Las Vegas on Monday caught first glimpses of the casino's makeover with final touches planned to be complete by early summer.
But the famed shrimp cocktail is staying.
Some of the upgrades that Golden Gate owner Mark Brandenburg showed include a 7,000-square-foot casino floor expansion, a high-limit gaming pit that opened Thursday and a new hotel lobby, which will be ready to check in guests next week.
A 35,000-square-foot, five-story hotel tower with 14 new suites and two penthouses will open in June, adding to the property's 106-room portfolio. The casino will also gain a new porte cochere just off Main Street. Brandenburg said the property plans to hire 25 to 30 new employees to staff the expansion, which cost upward of $12 million.
Other downtown properties, including the Golden Nugget, Plaza and El Cortez, have also added rooms and remodeled in recent years.
"There's no question that the downtown renaissance was a big part of our decision to go forward with this expansion," Brandenburg said. "When Derek and Greg Stevens became my partners in 2008, that was a big reason for them joining me as partners, to give us the ability to renovate and expand this property into a first-class boutique hotel."
The Golden Gate has a storied past, which Brandenburg and the Stevens brothers, who also own the D Las Vegas casino downtown, plan to acknowledge. The first downtown casino, at 1 Fremont St., opened in 1906 as the Hotel Nevada with Las Vegas' first telephone and its first phone number, 1. History buffs can check out a 1906 Kellogg telephone in the new hotel lobby, along with the Hotel Nevada's original hotel registration and gaming ledgers.
The Golden Gate has undergone a handful of remodels and name changes since 1906, but the hotel expansion is the property's first in more than 50 years.
The Golden Gate will keep its dark interiors reminiscent of early 20th century San Francisco, but the new hotel rooms will have elements of the 1920s, art deco designs, pinstripes and nods to Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack. Not every amenity will have a vintage Vegas vibe; hotel rooms will include high-definition televisions and iPod docks, too.
David G. Schwartz, director of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Center for Gaming Research, said it's difficult to gauge if downtown's hotel-by-hotel face-lift will have any effect on gaming revenues. But the Golden Gate's decision to remodel and add more rooms is a positive sign for both the property and for downtown as a whole.
"It shows that they are confident that downtown's future looks good," Schwartz said. "Hopefully, the recession is over. Hopefully, as room rates on the Strip go up, downtown's more value-oriented approach will be more effective."
Downtown gaming revenue was up 13.7 percent in January compared to the same time last year. Brandenburg said revenue at the Golden Gate is also up.
"Business these last three days (since the expanded floor opened) has been amazing," he said. "We've never seen numbers like this."
On Monday morning, Frank Blair from Tucson, Ariz., was playing slots, oblivious to the changes occurring around him. Like many longtime Golden Gate customers, Blair, who comes to Las Vegas to gamble three to four times a year, had just one concern: the fate of the shrimp cocktail.
The Golden Gate temporarily closed its deli for remodeling, moving the famed appetizer to Du-par's.
The casino's owners are still rethinking food and beverage concepts for the deli's space, but the shrimp cocktail, first added to the casino's menu in 1959, will remain a staple at the property.
"We are of course going to preserve our shrimp cocktail," Brandenburg said. "That's something that's very meaningful to us."
Contact reporter Caitlin McGarry at
cmcgarry@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273.
