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Hard Rock
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Hard Rock Hotel and Casino - Las Vegas closes
it's doors, permanently.
After 25 years, the
stage has gone dark as Hard Rock says goodbye to
Las Vegas.
At 6 p.m., Richard Bosworth, CEO of Hard Rock
owner JC Hospitality, presided over a short
door-chaining ceremony signifying the end of an
era. As things quickly come & go in Vegas, it's
25 years is quite a respectable run.
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“This is something
you don’t see every day, chaining a hotel and
casino like this,” Bosworth said as he secured
the lock & chain. “I want to thank Las Vegas.
What a send-off you gave this property this
week. It got a proper farewell.”
The property just east of the Strip on Harmon
Avenue saw February 3rd, 2020 as it's last day
of business.
The famous rock ‘n roll memorabilia cases now
empty. The blasting music replaced by erie
silence and a feeling of sadness to see it all
go.
The Hard Rock Cafe portion of the hotel was
demolished in November 2019, after the cafe's
exterior 82-foot-tall guitar had been moved to
the Neon Museum. |
The Next Chapter: Virgin Hotels
The Hard Rock was purchased by
Virgin Hotels in partnership with a group of
investment firms. Virgin founder Sir Richard
Branson announced plans to renovate the property
and re-brand it as Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.
The renovation project is expected to cost more
than $200 million, with planned opening in
November 2020. Virgin Hotels Las Vegas will have
a modern desert design. The casino will measure
60,000 sq ft, an increase from the Hard Rock's
current casino. Virgin Hotels' casino will
be operated by Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment,
an affiliate of the Mohegan Tribe. It will be
the first Native American tribe to operate a Las
Vegas casino. The hotel will include 1,504
rooms, and will be operated by Virgin Hotels.
The new resort will also feature 14 renovated
restaurants and two entertainment venues.
Also featured will be 110,000 sq ft of meeting
and event space. Only a small portion of the
Hard Rock's memorabilia would be displayed at
Virgin Hotels. |
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Archived Hard Rock News
& Views
2/7/09 Old Joint closes
The Joint (hard Rock's concert venue) was closed in
order to continue the expansion. The new, larger Joint
is still under construction. The space that the old
venue occupied will be used as expanded casino space.
6/9/08 Funding Fully Secured for Hard Rock
Expansion
According to CNN, the joint venture of Morgans Hotel
Group and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners has closed on
the $620-million loan, funding the Hard Rock expansion.
1/14/08 Expansion Construction Finally Under Way
No changes have been made to
the plans
since the March 2007 announcement of the Hard Rock's
major expansion. The resort will remain open during
construction. The podium expansions are under
construction now and the towers will break ground in
March. The new expansion and all interior changes should
be completed in late 2009.
The expansion will cover
eight of the 23 undeveloped acres, leaving
15 acres for future
development.
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Rendering shows the
expanded pool area, the South Tower, and the convention
facilities.
3/13/07
New Owners
of Hard Rock Announce Expansion Plans
The $760-million project
will uses eight of the adjacent 23 acres
and will include:
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860 new
rooms
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a 17-story,
hotel tower
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a
15-story, all-suite
VIP South Tower -
New spa and health
club -
a new nightclub -
several new
restaurants
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30,000sq. ft. of new retail
space
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converting the existing surface parking
lot to a 60,000-sq. ft. convention center
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converting the
existing "The Joint" concert venue into 35,000 sq.
ft. of new casino space (more than doubling the
existing 30,000-sq. ft. casino)
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adding a new, larger
"The Joint" (with a capacity of 4,000)
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an expanded pool area
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a
complete remodel of the existing rooms and public
areas
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The photo (above (left) shows the land the
expansion will use (in blue) the existing apartment complex will
be demolished. The
rendering above (above-center), shows the planned expansion
area (blue) and
possible future use of the remaining land (green) as a
possible
residential element. Curious, is the use of the former
Las Ramblas land (purple) which is now owned by the
Africa Israel and marked Africa Israel Project on
THE Map.
Update 7/6/07
The purple area (above) once owned by the Edge Group, has
been sold to (an Israeli company) along with the
former
W Hotel and DR Horton land. African Israel Investments
plans a major development on the entire 60 acres. So,
the purple area will not be part of the Hard Rock
expansion.
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Hard Rock
Construction Photos |
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Top row - the (now open) HRH Tower
Middle row - The new expanded casino which utilizes the space from the old The Joint. This expansion virtually doubles the casino space.
Bottom row- the lobby for the HRH Tower is very dark and very cool
and a blurry shot of the new floor plan.
Photos 1/15/09 by Mark Adams
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The Paradise (north)
Tower is open while the all-suites HRH (south) Tower is slated to
open on 12/28/09/
Work on the expanded pool area is still underway.
Frank Zappa adorns the elevator lobby on the 16th floor
of the Paradise tower.
Photos 11/25 and 12/03/09 by Mark Adams |
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The first tower is topped-off and work on the second
tower is underway.
Photos 10/19/08 by Daniel Harris |
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Construction at
the Hard Rock is moving along quickly.
The first tower is two floors from topped and the
second tower is under construction.
Photos 9/15/08 by
Dan Sheffer |
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The casino expansion
is taking shape.
Photo by Aaron Auxier |
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The progress on Hard Rocks expansion is shown in these
photos taken on 7/15/08 by Aaron Auxier. |
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4/26/08 Jeremy Smiech
sent in the first set of construction photos.
Far Left: The west-side looking south shows suites tower
foundation in the foreground and the new hotel tower
foundation in the background.
Center: From the parking garage, you can see the suites
tower construction.
Near Left: Looking south, down Paradise Road, the old
surface parking lot is being converted to conference
space. |
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Older News |
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NEWS 2/5/07 Hard Rock Hotel and
Casino Purchased by Morgans Hotel Group
The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
was purchased by Morgans Hotel Group for $770
million. Morgans also owns the renowned Delano and Mondrian brands which
are both being built at Boyd's
Echelon on the Stardust site. The
purchase includes the resort and the 23 undeveloped acres adjacent to
the resort, where the cancelled, Hard
Rock Condos were originally planned.
Morgans plans to keep
the Hard Rock name and develop the vacant land, expanding the resort.
Details will be revealed by March 1, 2007 |
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3/04/06 Hard Rock Condos
(Cancelled)
The
(now defunct)
Hard Rock Condo project details
Anchoring the east end of the
Harmon Corridor, the Hard Rock Hotel
condo project will be comprised of 800 condo hotel units called "The
Flats", 372 luxury high rise condos called "The Residences" and 36
private beachside villas called "The Bungalows" on 24 lushly landscaped acres
adjacent to the existing pool area.
The new
towers will have 80% glass exteriors and contemporary ultra modern interiors
with exquisite high end finishes. Included in this expansion is a Boardwalk, retail shopping, additional beach entry pools and four new restaurants.
Additionally, The Joint will be reconstructed to a larger, state-of-the-art music
venue concert hall.
The Flats
These Las Vegas condo hotels will be two towers totaling around 800 suites
with a mixture of fully furnished 550 ft studios and 1,100 sq. ft one bedroom
units. These condos can be put into the hotel inventory so that owners may
share in room rental revenues when they are not in residence. It is
anticipated that the studios will be priced starting in the mid $400s and
the one bedrooms will be priced starting in the mid $800s.
The Residences
There are three high rise towers with 372 units in The Hard Rock Residences,
with one-, two- and three-bedroom units from 1,200 to 3,600 sq. ft. The two
and three bedroom condos will be bi-level wall to wall units, and the towers
will feature private parking, valet, and concierge service. There will be no
central corridors in these buildings, so each unit will have direct elevator
access. Pricing will start in the low $1-million range for these condos.
The Bungalows
The private beach-side bungalows will have a South Beach look and a Malibu
feel. These will be exclusive single family villas with their own private
pool starting in the high $2 millions. Each will range from 1,800 square feet to 3,600
square feet, built on 900 square foot pads with either 2, 3 or 4 stories.
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