Las Vegas Strip icon gets a stay of execution

Building anything on the Las Vegas Strip takes a long time. That's partially because the Strip is an incredibly busy, densely packed 4.2-mile stretch of road in the middle of the desert.

It's not easy to get construction materials to a site and it's a challenge to store them once they arrive. Building Resorts World Las Vegas or the recently-opened Fontainebleau Las Vegas was a little easier because both projects were empty lots on the less-crowded north Strip. That made it easier to take delivery of items and find places to keep them.

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Overhauling an existing property on the south or central Strip presents many more challenges. There's very little open space and traffic makes getting deliveries a nightmare.

Add in trying to renovate a property while keeping it open — something Caesars did when it rebranded Bally's to Horseshoe and a move MGM pulled off in turning the Monte Carlo to Park MGM — and you take on a new level of difficulty. In Caesars Entertainment's (CZR) - Get Free Report and MGM Resorts International's MGM cases, they kept the properties open during the construction but could move guests to their other properties when the need came up.

That's not a luxury Hard Rock International (HRI) has as it looks to completely retheme Mirage and build its signature Guitar Hotel on the site of the current Mirage Volcano. The company plans a complete overhaul of the resort which will not close during construction.

Mirage Volcano may be around for a while

HRI bought Mirage from MGM Resorts International  (MGM) - Get Free Report in late 2022 and has been fairly tight-lipped about its plans. The company does have Clark County's approval to build a 660–foot tall all-suite tower guitar-shaped hotel where the famed Volcano attraction sits now.

It has seemed for months that the Volcano's closure was imminent — it even was closed for a period around Las Vegas' Formula 1 race — but HRI may be focused on remodeling the existing property first.   

"The beloved volcano – still erupting for eager crowds – will be nixed once the new hotel tower plans are firmed up," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. "But that final vision isn’t expected for some time. When the project begins it’s expected to take as many as 30 months to complete."

Work has begun on parts of the property including creating new outdoor spaces in the area once occupied by Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat. That area was quietly shut down in 2023 with its animals shipped to new homes.

Hard Rock has a long timeline

Hard Rock got a three-year royalty-free license to use the Mirage name from MGM when it closed the deal in late 2022. That means the company will likely keep the current branding for at least that long, but it could reach an extension with MGM.

The company has been very tightlipped about its construction plans likely because it does not want to scare away customers. That's especially true over the next few months as Las Vegas is currently hosting the CES trade show and will host the Super Bowl in February with March Madness being a big tourism driver after that.     

HRI has made it clear that the timeline is very extended.

"Hard Rock CEO Jim Allen said he hoped the project will open sometime in late 2027 or early 2028, according to a company town meeting held on May 25 in Atlantic City," the Review-Journal reported.