HotelChatter

Hotel Closing

Harrah's Tries Something New

May 24, 2006 at 2:59 PM | 0 Comments

The Grand Casino Island View Hotel in Biloxi, MS, was demolished over the weekend and the site's new owner Harrah's plans on building a brand-spanking-new resort worth $1 billion.

The 11-year-old building had been damaged by Hurricane Katrina but was still salvagable. However, Harrah's had other ideas in mind. The new hotel will take at least a couple of years to build but Harrah's may have the casino part ready on another part of the site later this summer.

One of our tipsters weighs in on the developments:

It's highly likely that Harrah's will implode the adjacent Casino Magic tower as well.  They just swapped a couple of dowdy riverboat casinos in Louisiana for the Casino Magic property in Biloxi.

Either way, Biloxi is making a slow comeback from Hurricane Katrina. The area was home to 12 casinos before the storm. Since then, three have reopened with five more expected before the year is out.

Related Stories:
· Skyline changes as hotel crashes down [Sun Herald]