This page celebrates the reinventing of the
Tropicana Hotel and Casino. Unlike her long-gone
sisters, the Trop will remain the Trop, albeit with four
added towers (which include over 10,000 rooms) and completely gutted and rebuilt
public spaces.
We will track her progress
and share historic photos and facts of the ol' lady
during this, her 50th year. |
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Early Renderings
This (below-left) is the
first rendering of the proposed expansion of the
Tropicana. These plans are sure to change (see above), but the overall layout of a cluster of six
towers, totaling 10,244 rooms is fairly certain.
Notice the existing towers are still in the
plans and dwarfed by the new towers. Also notice the (long gone) flower sculpture
(below) is back on the corner (reinvented).
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Tropicana News and
Views
NEWS
7/17/07
Renovation
plans on hold until 2008 due to a volatile debt market and
rising construction costs.
NEWS
4/4/07 The
Tropicana celebrates her 50th birthday. "Happy Birthday baby,
and many many more".
NEWS 12/26/06
Columbia Sussex, the new owners of the Tropicana, announced a $2.5-billion plan for the ageing, 34-acre property. The plan is to
keep the most of existing towers, giving them interior and exterior
renovations. They will also build four more towers; two of them
for the Trop, another for a new hotel (which will have a
different hotel brand), and the fourth a condo-hotel. In all,
the complex will boast 10,224-rooms. A 645,000-sq. ft.
convention center, 273,000 sq. ft. of retail space and new
85,460-sq. ft. casino are also part of the plans.
The Tropicana will remain open during the process, with sections
being renovated. Columbia Sussex wants to keep the Tropicana a
mid-roller, mid-priced establishment, unlike most of the new
high-end projects in Las Vegas.
NEWS 5/19/06
After a prolonged bidding war, Aztar was purchased by Columbia
Sussex, which obtained Aztar's five casinos (including the
Tropicana) for $2.75 billion, in an all-cash transaction
(including $676 million of debt assumption) valued at $54 a
share. |
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The Tropicana
opened April 4th, 1957 with 300 rooms.
The flower sculpture/fountain (left) on the corner of the
property remained until the late 70's.
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The porte
cochere (right) was cutting-edge design (for the times) and
would be happily welcomed back, in the new project. |
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The original three-story rooms buildings are still there today, known as Garden Rooms. All
of the original buildings are still in use. These will be demolished
with the upcoming major expansion as they have long lived-out their usefulness.
In 1960 the long running (still
running) Folies Bergere debuted.
1958: 150 rooms were added on the east
1962: 116 rooms were added on the north
1968: Sold to Trans-Texas Airways
1971: Sold to Deli Gustafson
1973: 1,150-seat Superstar Theater was added along the strip-side
1974: The event center was added on the south
photo from 1975
In 1977, the 21-story, 600-room Tiffany
Tower (now known as the island Tower) was added along with a new
porte cochere and gold mirrored exterior, an expanded casino, a
large shopping area, and the world's largest Tiffany leaded-glass
canopy (right) over the gaming pit. |
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1979: Sold To
Ramada Hotels
1986: The 22-Story, 805-room Paradise Tower was added along with four more
restaurants, a huge tropical pool area (below) and an indoor bridge-walkway,
spanning the pool area connecting the new tower to the
casino.
 
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1989: Aztar Corp.
took over the Ramada Gaming Group.
1991: The strip-front outer
island (right) was added to welcome pedestrians coming from
the new Excalibur and MGM Grand resorts.
 
In 1996, for some reason,
they gave the facade a new look, taking us from Dan Tanna to
Fantasy Island (da plane, da plane). I prefer the original
1957 porte cochere.
5/19/2006 After a prolonged
bidding war, Aztar was purchased by Columbia Sussex, which
obtained Aztar's five casinos (including the Tropicana) for
$2.75 billion. |
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