City Council OKS new downtown casino

Plans for a new Fremont Street casino-hotel breezed through the Las Vegas City Council approval process Wednesday, paving the way for the first bottom-up resort construction project the downtown area has seen in years.

“The time is right,” developer Derek Stevens said.

Stevens bought the property that was previously home to the Las Vegas Club, Mermaids and Glitter Gulch strip club, and leveled the buildings on the block last year.

The 1,224,485-square-foot resort that will replace them will tower

459 feet over Fremont Street on the north side of the Fremont Street Experience, across the pedestrian mall from the Golden Gate casino.

The development plans call for a hotel and casino on the downtown block bounded by Ogden Avenue, Fremont and Main streets with 777 guest rooms and a 117,740 squarefoot gaming area. A 1,187-space, aboveground parking garage is planned across Main Street and will be accessible with a pedestrian bridge.

“We’re finally building,” Mayor Carolyn Goodman raved.

Goodman has said the project will transform Fremont Street’s west end.

The Sassy Sally figure, a cowgirl who used to kick her leg high over Glitter Gulch and Fremont Street, will be resurrected and again mounted at the site.

The hotel-casino project comes as the Fremont Street Experience is planning a $33 million overhaul of its canopy LED display, including new content and interactive elements.

Ward 5 Councilman Cedric Crear emphasized the potential the project has for employing local residents, noting the unemployment rate in his ward is higher than the citywide unemployment rate.

“We need to do everything we can to provide opportunities,” Crear said.

Contact Jamie Munks at jmunks@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @Journo_jamie_ on Twitter.