Hard Rock International has shared new renderings of the guitar-shaped hotel it proposes to build along the Las Vegas Strip. The 36-story curiosity, currently scheduled to debut in 2025, is a sight that will place all adjacent Strip resorts in its shadow. The drawings were presented to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, which must approve the plans, during a meeting on Wednesday. The board is expected to issue its approval on Dec. 16.
The Seminole Tribe of Florida, which owns the Hard Rock brand, announced last year that it was purchasing the operations of The Mirage from MGM Resorts International for $1.075 billion in cash. That deal closed earlier this year, with Hard Rock expected to officially take over on Dec. 19, 2022.
Under the terms of the deal, MGM gets to retain The Mirage name and brand, licensing it to Hard Rock royalty-free for a maximum of three years during the transition. Hard Rock intends to operate The Mirage, as is, for 18 months.
The guitar-shaped hotel tower – similar to one at the Hard Rock’s Hollywood, Florida location – will be built in the space where The Mirage’s artificial volcano has erupted since Steve Wynn opened the resort in 1989. The tower will feature six light beams that shoot 20,000 feet into the sky, virtually extending the strings on the guitar’s cropped-short neck.
During its presentation, the Hard Rock said its tower would add 800 to 1,000 new rooms to the former Mirage, whose existing casino hotel structure will remain. The company also announced an overhaul of the casino floor that will add 80,000 square feet of gaming space. That’s accompanied by an addition of 1,164 slot machines and 161 table games. A separate new Strip-facing casino will feature 200 slots and 12 table games.
In addition, executives told the Gaming Control Board they will add 3,000 theater seats to the resort, as well as renovate all existing rooms and suites, villas, and event and meeting spaces, in addition to the pool area.
Transition Fruition
Some changes to The Mirage have already been implemented. In a joint statement made shortly before Thanksgiving, MGM and the Hard Rock announced that Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat was now permanently closed. The attraction, which opened in 1990, had been closed since the death of the bottlenose dolphin K2 on Sept. 25. It was The Mirage’s third dolphin death in 2022 alone.
What will happen to the Cirque du Soleil-Beatles production Love is the next big question. The Mirage’s new owners have only committed to the show until the end of 2023. Love was such a prominent feature of The Mirage, photos of the Beatles upstage the resort’s logo on the building.
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