Las Vegas hotel expansions

[Chapelo]

Caesar's Palace

Construction begins in 1962, and officially opens in 1966 with 700 rooms in a 14-story tower.

1970 - The Centurion Tower is completed and opens.

1974 - The Roman Tower, at 13 stories, is completed.

1979 - Fantasy (later renamed Forum) Tower is completed.

1992 - The Forum Shops (indoor mall) opens.

1997 - Palace Tower is completed.

2004 - Augustus Tower is completed, framing the pool.

2009 - Octavius Tower is completed, but doesn't officially open until January 2012 due to the economy.

[Chapelo]

Desert Inn/Wynn/Encore

1950 - The Desert Inn officially opens with 225 rooms.

1952 - Golf course opened

1963 - St. Andrews tower completed.

1978 - Augusta Tower is completed.

1997 - Entire resort is reclad and undergoes a massive renovation, from a garish glass facade to a more subdued Italian-style.

2000 - Steve Wynn buys the Desert Inn for $270 million.

2001 - The resort closes in August. The Augusta Tower is demolished on October 18.

2002 - Construction on Wynn Las Vegas commences.

2004 - The Palms and St. Andrews towers are demolished.

2005 - The last remnant of the Desert Inn, a parking garage constructed in 1997, is demolished. On April 28, the Wynn officially opens.

2008 - Encore Las Vegas is completed and opens in December.

[Jim856796]

From 1989 until sometime in the 2000s, there was a period named the "Las Vegas Strip Renaissance", in which some of the the older and smaller hotels and casinos made way for the larger mega resorts.

The Mirage - 1989
Excalibur - 1990
Luxor - 1993 *
Treasure Island - 1993
MGM Grand - 1993 *
Stratosphere - 1996 *
Monte Carlo - 1996
New York New York - 1997
Bellagio - 1998 *
Mandalay Bay - 1999 *
Venetian - 1999 *
Paris - 1999
Aladdin - 2000 (since renamed Planet Hollywood)
Wynn - 2005

* - denotes that it has had an expansion. In the case of Stratosphere, part of its hotel tower was left unfinished until 2000.

Other older hotels have blossomed into megaresorts, such as Caesars Palace and Circus Circus.