Gaming:

Imperial Palace becomes the latest Vegas casino to undergo a name change

Sun File Photo

Imperial Palace

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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

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