Las Vegas Sun NewsGaming:
Imperial Palace becomes the latest Vegas casino to undergo a name change
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Sun File Photo
Imperial Palace
Wednesday
19 September 2012
2 a.m.
Caesars Entertainment’s developing Linq project continues to change the face of the Strip.
The company announced Monday that Imperial Palace will be rebranded the Quad Resort & Casino.
The Quad will be the gateway to Linq, a retail and entertainment district that is under construction.
As part of the transformation, improvements will be made in phases to the facade, porte cochere, front desk, bell desk, hotel lobby, casino floor, retail promenade and dining levels. The resort will remain open during construction that will continue through next year.
After December, the property will cease to be known as Imperial Palace. But a new sign isn’t set to go up until a new facade is complete, near the end of 2013.
The changes also will include adding 15,000 square feet of gaming space. The casino floor now is about 50,000 square feet.
New entrances will be added. The front door of the Quad will move from the Strip to the north side of the building, with access from Koval Lane or the Harrah’s tunnel. A pedestrian walkway will connect Harrah’s Carnaval Court to the south side of the Quad, eventually leading pedestrians to Linq and the High Roller Observation Wheel.
This isn’t the first name change in the property’s 33-year history. It was the Flamingo Capri when Ralph Engelstad purchased the decaying property in 1971. He added buildings and a casino and reopened it a year later. In 1979, he renamed it the Imperial Palace.
The Imperial Palace-Quad transition is just the latest rebranding of Las Vegas resorts. Here’s a look at some from the past.
Fitzgeralds
The downtown property is in the final stages of rebranding to the D Las Vegas Casino Hotel. Why the D? It’s partly a reference to the nickname of new CEO and majority owner Derek Stevens, known as D. It’s also a nod to the downtown Las Vegas revitalization effort and a tribute to Detroit, the hometown of Stevens and his brother, Greg, the property’s co-owner.
Bally's
MGM Grand changed its name to Bally’s after Kirk Kerkorian sold the property to Bally Entertainment Corp. in 1985.
Justin M. Bowen
MGM Grand Resort
Kerkorian changed the name of the Marina Hotel to the MGM-Marina Hotel, which eventually became part of the MGM Grand Resort that opened on the site in 1993.
Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon
Barbary Coast changed to Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall & Saloon in 2007 in honor of Bill Harrah, the founder of Harrah’s Entertainment and the casino’s new owner. Harrah’s obtained the casino that year in a land swap with Boyd Gaming Corp., which traded the Barbary Coast for land next to Boyd’s now-defunct Stardust.
Planet Hollywood
The Aladdin changed to Planet Hollywood in 2007 after investors, including Robert Earl, co-founder of restaurant chain Planet Hollywood International, bought the casino out of bankruptcy in 2003 and rebranded it as part of a top-down remodeling.
Sun file photo /
Hooters
The Hotel San Remo, originally a Howard Johnson’s, changed to Hooters in 2006 after investors involved in the Hooters restaurant chain bought the casino in 2004.
Las Vegas Hilton
The International changed to the Las Vegas Hilton in 1971 after Hilton Hotels Corp. bought it. It's now known as LVH — Las Vegas Hotel & Casino after losing its rights to use its longtime name from trademark owner Hilton Worldwide.
Steve Marcus
Wynn Las Vegas
Steve Wynn initially intended to name Wynn Las Vegas, which opened in 2005, after a favorite Picasso painting entitled “Le Reve,” or “The Dream.” Wynn changed his mind before the property opened after advisers indicated that the public wouldn’t embrace the reference, instead naming it after himself.
New Frontier
The New Frontier changed names several times over the years under different owners. Over a period of more than 40 years, the property changed from the Last Frontier to the New Frontier to the Frontier, and then back to the New Frontier in 1998 when Phil Ruffin bought the property. Under new ownership, it was torn down in 2007 to make way for a new megaresort that has yet to materialize.
Mirage
Mirage changed its name to the Glass Pool Inn after Wynn bought the Mirage name for his first Strip megaresort in 1988. The Glass Pool Inn, known for its above ground swimming pool with windows affording underwater views, was demolished in 2006.
Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel
Binion’s Horseshoe, or the Horseshoe, changed its name to Binion’s Gambling Hall & Hotel after Harrah’s Entertainment bought and immediately resold the casino to new owners in 2004, but retained the rights to the Horseshoe brand and the casino’s World Series of Poker tournament.
Plaza Hotel
The Plaza Hotel was known as the Union Plaza until 2000. It opened as the Union Plaza in 1971, after the nearby Union Pacific rail depot, and became Jackie Gaughan’s Union Plaza in the 1980s before Gaughan sold it.
Steve Marcus
Lady Luck
In October 2011, the owners of the Lady Luck announced the shuttered hotel-casino would be reopened as the Downtown Grand under an agreement with the city to complete at least $100 million in renovations to the establishment by Sept. 30, 2013.Share
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The dumbest name for a casino.
The name change isn't quaint. It's not quirky. It's owner arrogant.
God that's a horrible name. the D ???? How exactly does that look on a billboard or marquee??? How do you build a brand based on one letter. If your modeling anything or paying homage to detriot in the business context, aren't you doomed to fail?
Could they have been a little more imaginative???
Wynn...I understand.
D? For Derek? A nobody with a head too large to fit thru the door.
What arrogance.
Insiders know the truth behind the D. That casino was originally called Sundance, it was built and owned by.......Moe Dalitz.
Now the D should make sense.
the exterior looks stupid for fremont street.fremont is all about colors and bright lights.nothing about this place will make me want to go in there now.'D' must be for DUH! casino because it looks bland and out of place there.you wont get a dime of my business as the fitz did will miss it.o'sheas,the fitz and sahara .vegas is starting to just be a big turd now .all of the actual fun old type friendly places are all but gone.
Major Fail. That's with a capital F.
Anyone that thinks removing neon and using a name like "D" will work on Freemont has more money than brains. Fail.
Wow, a lot of negative comments here. I think the rendering looks new and modern. The guys who own the Golden Gate (which is also being remodeled) on the other end of Fremont Street also own this place.
I think it will do great and I'm always happy to see these older places getting updated.
I guess some people only see the glass half empty.
I think they should have kept the name and the lights on the outside, but definately update the inside. I have been to Vegas several times in the past 3 years. I like downtown because it is the old Vegas, the way it was, nostalgic. It is nice to escape the strip and get to the real Vegas. Please don't take any more of it away from us.
Remember when Vegas used to be fun? All the different casinos with unique names and themes.
Now we get stuff like "The D." Another place that used to have charm looking to turn itself into a mini version of the Cosmo. And isn't Fremont Street supposed to be all about the neon? More neon lost in an attempt to look upscale and modern.
Seriously The D is about as unimaginative a name as the Hilton's new name: Las Vegas Hotel. What is happening to this town?
They should name it the C for C-you later.
Built by Moe Dalitz (from Detroit), later sold to Don Barden (from Detroit), recently sold to Derek & Greg Stevens' Desert Rock co. (from Detroit). I see a lotta D's there.
They better fix the elevators!
As long as they don't change too much about the place. Downtown Vegas may soon try to be like the ultra clubby Strip. Hope not. I like to gamble a little and enjoy a pool, buffet and that's about it.
First there was the "M". Now the "D". Only 24 letters left to choose from! Last time I went to Fitz. I went with some friends who were belittling me for only playing the nickel machines. When we left, they were both talking about what they had lost. I won maybe $40. They decided maybe my strategy was O.K.!
They left "Bob Stupak's Vegas World" (now Stratosphere) off of the list.
"D" for Doomed or "C" for Closed or "B" for Bankrupt it's all got the same thing in common.
Yeah they left out the Dunes also but the article did same some rebranded!
lipstick on a pig. I stayed here years ago, thinking its not that bad being on the strip. Well after I checked in, I walked about 10 miles, and all of a sudden I felt like I was in a motel 6. Its a motel disguised as a hotel. scary place.
Car collection is cool though.
I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I'll bet that Stratosphere and Dunes were left off the list, because Vegas World was demolished before the Stratosphere (a different building entirely) was built. Same goes for the Dunes. It was torn down prior to Bellagio being built.
That should clear it up for you CasinoKid!
Now go back to whatever it was you were doing.
I hope they fix the flooding problems around Imperial as for the D have they fixed the parking garage that first dip is a killer and Handicap parking needs to be improved
I'm a Caesars fanboy. I stayed at the IP just last February for the Super Bowl parties in town. I'll more than likely stay there again for the same weekend this season (Go Jets). When I saw "The Quad", I now know that Caesars needs an idea man. I was just talking to a friend and came up with "Casino Koko" and theme it around Kokopelli but 'Vegas style. I even started some crude drawings. It will work!! /rogerdebris.
Getting back to "The Quad", I'll lay two to one odds that they put in a bar named the Rathskeller. Snore!
Bomac you were right about the building thing I had understood that the property it self as in the original boundry lines.
But I also understand that renaming and rebranding are different.
And why? do you come off so rude.
Both names are retarded. {The "D", your that self centered to name a building after yourself. That idea we already have, right (Wynn). How about Boomering or something a little less YOU and more creative.} The Quad wtf, I thinking star trac. 2KO is a cool name or ROT, for Ring Of Trust, that the thing they are building will not come down.