The first desegregated hotel and casino resort in Las Vegas could be revived if a $1.6 billion project gets the necessary approval from city officials.
Las Vegas Moulin Rouge LLC is seeking to acquire the property located on Bonanza Road near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and to resurrect one of the legends of Las Vegas as part of an ambitious $1.6 billion mega-scheme.
The group made an unsuccessful bid for the Moulin Rouge site two years ago. It rekindled its effort to purchase the property, lodging an official offer this past week. The group wants to acquire the site for $9.5 million and has up until this coming Tuesday to deposit the total amount into an escrow account to prove it has the funds.
Las Vegas Moulin Rouge also presented renderings and more details about how it plans to bring back the former glory of the property. The revival of Moulin Rouge Hotel & Casino would be the centerpiece of a $1.6 billion project. The whole scheme will be implemented in three phases. Phase one and phase two are projected to cost around $400 million each, while the final phase would require an $800 million investment.
Moulin Rouge originally opened doors in 1955 as the first integrated hotel and casino complex in the United States. The property was the first desegregated casino in Las Vegas and was extremely popular with many of the famous black entertainers of the time.
Moulin Rouge’s Revival
The hotel and casino resort will reopen in three phases. The first phase will include a 400-room hotel, 25,000-square-foot casino, a restaurant and a buffet, convention space, a poolside night club, a 1,200-seat showroom, a jazz center, a poolside sports betting facility, retail space, and a spa.
The company behind the project also revealed that it would deploy the iconic Moulin Rouge neon signs and will use parts of the original casino facade. Phase one of the ambitious project will further include a 5,000-square-foot historical museum.
The second phase of the masterplan will include expansion of the existing gaming floor, the addition of more retail spaces, entertainment facilities, dining outlets, and of another hotel tower with 1,000 rooms.
That second phase will also include 50,000 square feet of additional convention space and parking facilities.
The final phase of the project will include mixed-use residential space with retail and office facilities as well as a 12,000-seat arena. Las Vegas Moulin Rouge LLC said that it would acquire properties surrounding the Moulin Rouge site for all three phases of its project.
The group pushing for the restoration of the former hotel and casino resort did not provide completion date for its project. The plan is expected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs.
Commenting on their scheme, Gene Collins, a principal for the group behind the $1.6 billion plan, said that “when people see the Moulin Rouge is being developed, all around the world, people want to come to Las Vegas” and that the project is not a “Westside (Las Vegas) thing, it’s an international thing.”
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