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The Tropicana might be one of the most historic Las Vegas hotels on the Strip. Built in 1957, it was the home of Les Folies Bergère, until recently the longest-lasting stage production in the country. But for quite some time now, the Tropicana has been little more than just a tall building on the Strip after closing down Folies Bergère and losing many of its main attractions to other hotels. But all that’s about to change, according to new Tropicana CEO Alex Yemendijian, who advises not to count out the Tropicana just yet.
Yemendijian, who’s scheduled to take the reins of the hotel on July 1, has reported that the hotel will be given an extensive, $100 million makeover. That makeover includes a renovation of the hotel’s 1,876 rooms, the casino floor, restaurants and bars, showroom, convention center, and the pool area, which will be redecorated with a South beach Miami theme.
Two new restaurants and a nightclub will also be added, along with a new sports book and poker room and a bar in the center of the casino. In addition, all the slot machines and table games will be swapped out with brand new ones.
“We’re going to embark on a journey to transform the Tropicana to pre-eminence,” Yemenidjian told gaming regulators last week after they recommended him for a gaming license.
Yemendijian is a partner in Canadian investment firm Onex Corporation, which will take over the 34-acre Tropicana once it emerges from bankruptcy. The hotel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 5, separately from sister properties in northern Nevada, Laughlin, and Atlantic City. Onex accumulated more than $200 million in principal of the Tropicana’s senior debt.
The renovation will undoubtedly be a challenge, especially since Yemenidjian admits they’ll have to “do more with less and do it better than before.” Onex, along with the hotel’s previous owners, considered scrapping the entire property and building anew, but that plan was dismissed as financially unfeasible.
This won’t be the new CEO’s first time at the helm of a Las Vegas hotel, however; Yemenidjian served as president of the MGM Grand from 1995 through 1999, and he was on the company’s board from 1989 until 2005. For seven years, he was also chairman and CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, parent company of MGM Studios.
The Tropicana’s new owners also plan to extend the pedestrian bridge from Excalibur and MGM Grand to the hotel’s casino. Plans regarding what entertainment will be installed in the Tiffany Theatre have yet to be revealed, but the new CEO says that new entertainment programs will be introduced, along with new marketing campaigns.
“To be sure, we have a huge job ahead of us,” Yemenidjian said. “But nothing is more rewarding than to watch people who say it can’t be done get interrupted by somebody actually doing it.”
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