Improvements planned for Plaza Downtown

The Sun is reporting that some renovations are being planned for the downtown casinos owned by the Tamares Group.

The biggest changes will come at the Plaza, where a $20 million loan is being negotiated to makeover the hotel rooms. The hotel name will also be changed to Union Plaza, which was the original name of the hotel when it opened 1971 in reference to the Union Pacific railroad station that originally stood at the site.

Lesser changes will be seen at Las Vegas Club, which will see "theme changes". The infamous Western casino on East Fremont will also get some new slots if things go according to plan.

Any investment to improve hotel rooms is a winner in my book, especially downtown. The only question is whether the planned renovations will make a difference. The $20 million being spent on the Plaza is a fraction of the $165 million being spent on the Tropicana, or the $90 million outlay by Wynn to remodel their 5 year old rooms. Obviously the Plaza is smaller than those two, and being downtown they can probably spend less and get away with it, so we'll see how it goes.