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Why is The Mirage closing its doors?
By Greg Haas,
5 days ago
LAS VEGAS ( KLAS ) — The Mirage is not your typical Las Vegas story. Far from what its name might suggest, it was never some shimmering illusion on the horizon.
The Mirage was solid proof that Vegas was a good gamble in the late 1980s, and it’s hard to believe it’s going away after more than 34 years. Why is it, by the way?
Unlike other properties, The Mirage isn’t on the implosion calendar. The Y-shaped hotel tower, with 3,044 rooms, was the first of its kind in Las Vegas, modeled on efficiency, and it appears to have a future in the designs that will be dominated by a guitar-shaped hotel tower as Hard Rock puts its stamp on the property.
FILE – The Mirage hotel and casino is seen on May 3, 2018, in Las Vegas. Casino giant MGM Resorts International said Monday, Dec. 13, 2021, that it is selling operations of The Mirage hotel on the Las Vegas Strip to Hard Rock International in a cash deal worth almost $1.1 billion. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
The Mirage marquee for Siegfried & Roy’s show before it closed in 2003. Roy Horn is at right on the sign.
The volcano at The Mirage.
Fencing in front of the volcano at The Mirage on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. (Ryan Matthey / 8NewsNow)
The evolution of the Strip has seen The Mirage bested by Bellagio, out-cooled by the Cosmopolitan, but never completely left out of the conversation. It had its day through Steve Wynn’s ownership and MGM’s stewardship. Now it’s time for a power chord that’s going to shake up the neighbors.
Rendering of Hard Rock’s planned guitar-shaped hotel. (Hard Rock International via Nevada Gaming Control Board)
Why is MGM abandoning the site, letting someone else erase the famous volcano on the Strip? The price was right when Hard Rock came to the table cash in hand. MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle told CNN that the company owned “enough” of Las Vegas to let The Mirage go. Other reports indicated MGM didn’t want to foot the bill for renovations at the property and had plans to use the proceeds in other ventures.
The Mirage ushered in a period of unparalleled growth on the Strip, the first of the megaresorts and a very big gamble at the time. At $630 million, it was the most expensive resort ever built and it went up in just 24 months. Junk bonds financed most of the project, and reports filtered down that the resort needed to generate $1 million a day in revenue to pay the debt. Wynn said the casino alone accomplished that in a 2009 interview.
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