Palace Station in Las Vegas Unveils $192M Renovation, Casino Floor Expanded

Posted on: June 21, 2018, 10:30h. 

Last updated on: June 21, 2018, 10:11h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Las Vegas off-Strip casino Palace Station will open parts of its $192 million renovation next week, and sneak peaks show the property has largely done away with the old in favor of the new.

Palace Station renovation Station Casinos
Palace Station is unveiling its new look, which includes doing away with its exterior train marquee. (Image: Rachel Aston/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Station Casinos’ flagship property announced in 2016 a major update to the casino resort that opened 41 years ago. Media outlets the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun were invited to check out the new digs ahead of the 220,000-square-foot addition opening, and were surprised at what they found.

RJ’s Richard Velotta said guests “will hardly recognize the place.”

The resort’s train theme has largely been abandoned, and that includes the removal of the train marquee that has faced Sahara Avenue for decades. In its place will be a giant 80-foot by 21-foot-tall LED wall display.

A more modern, sleek theme has replaced the train station décor. The expansion adds 500 slot machines and renovated sportsbook to the casino floor. Several new eateries are being implanted, as is a new swimming pool with cabanas.

Palace Station’s more than 1,000 guestrooms are also being renovated, and expected to be completed before the year’s end.

A “boutique” nine screen movie theater operated by Regal Entertainment will additionally be opening in the coming months. Guests will be afforded reclining chairs, and have the ability to order a variety of food and beverages from their seats during the showing.

Driving Strip Traffic West

Located just west of Interstate 15 at Sahara Avenue, Palace Station is about a mile from the Strip. The goal of the $192 million investment, according to Palace Station GM Scott Nelson, is to “attract additional traffic from the Las Vegas Strip.”

Station Casinos, the local casinos company controlled by billionaires Frank III and Lorenzo Fertitta, is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in off-Strip resorts west of I-15. In addition to Palace Station’s overhaul, Station and sister holdings company Red Rock Resorts purchased the Palms Casino for $312.5 million in 2016.

Palms is amid a $485 million revamp, with the goal of returning the Flamingo Road resort to its once-hip image and persona.

Ryan Labbe of Clinique Hospitality, whose company is working on the Palms Casino makeover, says the new identities at Palace and Palms are needed to entice visitors to venture off the Strip.

“If locals aren’t talking about it, why would somebody coming in from out of town want to experience it?” Labbe asked recently. “Locals always have been and always will be a vital part of our business.”

Combined, Station is spending roughly $990 million on the two casino resorts.

Palace Past

Palace Station was Frank Fertitta Jr’s first property, which he originally opened as The Casino, and later Bingo Palace, before settling on its name that continues to this day. Fertitta’s investment was to solve what he considered a problem in Las Vegas: there was no casino catering to locals.

He founded Station Casinos in conjunction with Palace Station, and would go on to open additional locals-focused casinos.

One of the most notable events to occur at Palace Station came in 2007 when OJ Simpson was arrested at the resort and later charged on 13 counts of kidnapping, armed robbery assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, and conspiracy charges. Simpson went to the resort to take back memorabilia from two dealers he claimed was his.

Simpson was sentenced to nine to 33-years in prison. He was released on parole in July 2017, and has since been seen patronizing Station Casinos’ Red Rock Resort.