Revamped Binion’s to feature new 81-room boutique hotel, rotating bar and restaurant
As early as this summer, Binion’s Gambling Hall — the iconic downtown Las Vegas property — will be back in the hospitality business with renovations that include a boutique hotel and a seethrough saloon with a rotating bar.
Binion’s, which was acquired by TLC Casino Enterprises in 2008, became hotel-less when it closed its 365-room tower the following year, at the height of the recession.
“It’s huge for us … to get back into the hotel business,” said Tim Lager, the property’s general manager. There were “great plans” to renovate at the time, but then the economy took a tumble, prompting the company to go in “survival mode,” he said.
But about a decade later, plans were kickstarted.
The property announced that amenity would return with the addition of the 81-room Hotel Apache, a boutique twofloor concept that features vintage-style furnishing with dark brown and red hues.
The upcoming version was inspired by the original Hotel Apache, which opened at the same location in 1932. “(We’re) taking it back in time,” he said.
On the southwest corner of the property, underneath the Fremont Street Experience canopy, sits the Whiskey Licker Bar.
Above it, crews are building a 6,500-square-foot saloon, which will be called Whiskey Licker Up, Lager said.
The facility will have a glass ceiling and large, glass windows that can retract when the weather is nice, Lager said. Revelers will have an unobstructed view of the LED canopy and zipline riders, who will buzz a few feet above them, he said.
The rotating bar, which will seat 26 and accommodate twice as many people, will spin one revolution every 15 minutes, Lager said. A mechanical bull is being installed. Depending on the day, a stage will accommodate bands or DJS, Lager said. Food offerings will be fresh and never frozen.
The projects are expected to be completed by this summer, Lager said.
The cost estimate of the renovations was not disclosed.