Las Vegas loves the long goodbye.
While a show may close abruptly on the Las Vegas Strip and sometimes a restaurant or retailer disappears seemingly overnight, most casinos and attractions get a protracted death scene. It's not easy to close, implode, or rebuild major buildings on the Strip and usually plans to do so happen slowly.
That's what has been happening at The Mirage where new owner Hard Rock International has taken control of the property from MGM Resorts International (MGM). The new owner plans a massive overhaul of the resort and expects to build its signature Guitar Hotel on the property -- changes which won't happen quickly for a variety of reasons.
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Hard Rock has been clear that it intends to gut the current Mirage building and remove the resort casino's iconic Volcano attraction. That's a huge change which has been met with protests and a movement to preserve the Mirage Volcano by having it declared a historical landmark.
"From day one the The Volcano has been delighting The Mirage's visitors to what is an increasingly rare and totally awesome free Vegas attraction and highly emotional experience. Moreover, it's located on the most visible piece of land on the Las Vegas Strip! Frankly, it should be a historical landmark," the creator of a Change.org petition shared.
Realistically, that effort is not likely to succeed but Hard Rock does need Clark County permission to move forward with its plans.
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What's Next for the Mirage and Mirage Volcano
Clark County Commissioners will vote March 22 on the future of the Mirage property. Its new owner has said it's not planning to close the main resort/hotel/casino building.
“No. 1, it’s important for us to go on the record, 100 percent, we are not closing the building,” Hard Rock International CEO James Allen said in testimony to the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC), the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Allen sort of had to say that, however, as with construction timelines unclear, he needs the resorts 3,500 workers to stick around and he wants people to keep making reservations. He did leave himself some wiggle room if the company later decides a closure makes sense.
“There’s no intention at this time to close the building,” Allen said. “We certainly are like any company. We will look at the construction schedule, we will look at the economy, whether there is or is not a recession and a year and a half from now or so probably would be the timeframe that we would evaluate what makes the most sense."
Now, Hard Rock has detailed its plans for Clark County approval in a letter from land-use attorney with law firm Kaempfer Crowell Jennifer Lazovich.
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Hard Rock International plans to "renovate the 3,044-room hotel-casino and build a new 600-room high-rise along Las Vegas Boulevard, all part of its plan to turn the resort into a Hard Rock-branded property," according to the letter, which was shared by the Review-Journal.
"All told, its musical instrument-shaped tower will be an “engineering masterpiece,” the paper reported. "At 660 feet tall, the high-rise is designed to resemble back-to-back guitars with 'brightly lit strings' and would feature floor-to-ceiling glass panes, she wrote in the letter dated March 1."
Lazovich also made it clear that the Guitar Hotel would "forever change the skyline of the Strip."
If the Clark County Commissioners approve the project (and they are expected to) it will mean the end of the Mirage Volcano. Hard Rock has not shared a closing date for iconic attraction, but getting approval for the new construction will likely make that date sooner rather than later.
