Palms Casino Resort

The Palms is a resort and casino located on 4321 West Flamingo Road near the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The hotel is currently owned and operated by Station Casinos (previously by George Maloof) and opened back in 2001. The hotel is right across the street from the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino.

The hotel features a 94,840 square feet casino, along with a condominium named "Palms Place". It was recently the site of a large renovation after being bought out by Station Casinos in 2016. It was also the setting where The Real World: Las Vegas was filmed.

## History

### **Concept and Construction**

During an expansion on Fiesta Hotel and Casino (Now Fiesta Rancho) in 1999, George Maloof, president of the hotel and casino at the time, announced that his family would be building a new resort and casino across the Gold Coast on a 32-acre site that had been purchased two years earlier. According to Maloof, the unnamed resort would be construction in phases, with the first phase costing an estimated $275 million. The hotel would contain an 80,000 square foot casino and up to 2,000 rooms.

To keep up with the hotel and casino's construction, the Maloof family sold the Fiesta to Station Casinos for $185 million.

It was announced on October 24, 2000, that the new hotel and casino would be named the "Palms". The property, which was said to cost $265 million, would cater to both locals and tourists and would include a 40-story tower with 470 rooms, along with a "sensual curved shape" on the top. It would include a 95,000 square foot casino with 2,400 slot machines and 55 table games. A 1,200 seat multi-use entertainment venue and a 14-screen IMAX theater was planned to be included, making it the first

IMAX theater to be installed inside a hotel/casino away from the Strip. Also planned were a 10,000 square foot banquet and conference facility, a three-story 18,000 square foot foot spa and salon, an arcade, six restaurants (announced with signed restauranteurs Raymond Visan, Andre Rochat, Garduno's Mexican Restaurant, Michael Morton, The Steakhouse in Chicago, and Dennis Berkowitz), and a "cutting-edge" bar.

   The resort would be described as featuring "rustic, natural materials, honey-colored lighting, earth-tones colors, landscaped trellises, wood floors and patterned carpeting" all created to make the Palms have a beach resort/garden ambience. The pool area would be lined with bamboo cabanas, outdoor restaurants, and a poolside bar.

### **Opening**

The Palms officially opened on November 15, 2001 as one of the cheapest resorts to build in Las Vegas in its time, costing only $217 million. More than 7,000 people would come to this new resort, including celebrities like Paris Hilton, Cuba Gooding Junior, David Schwimmer, and others. During it's early years, the Palms only contained 455 rooms, all compacked within a 423 foot tower, now known as the "Ivory Tower".

Some special attractions at the Palms included the "Ghostbar". Now known as the APEX Social Club, the bar was located high above the hotel tower and contained a large glass platform hanging over the tower, providing a neat view of the property below. There was also the Little Buddha Cafe, which was a chinese restaurant imported all the way from Paris. Not to mention the buffet, which was priced to compete with was was offered at the nearby Gold Coast and Orleans. For locals, it also had a food court, and 14-screen movie theater.
The Palms overall included easy parking, a bingo room, and even two restaurants that were also included from Maloof's previous hotel and casino, the Fiesta. These were Garduno's Mexican Restaurant, and Blue Agave Oyster and Chile Bar.

Although the Palms was just beginning to become popular with celebrities, it wouldn't really take off until 2002, when MTV's The Real World would have one of its seasons located directly in the Palms Casino Resort. This season of the reality telivision had its cast living in a converted penthouse suite on the 28th floor of the hotel. The new season would not only be a hit for Las Vegas, but also a major popularity boost for the Palms. In fact, to this day, the suite that the cast stayed in is now known as the "The Real World Suite". The casino was also where other shows such as the Celebrity Poker Showdown and the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards.
The Palms would begin expanding in 2005, with the opening of its new $600 million 40-story Fantasy Tower on October 27, complete with 347 rooms and suites. This would include a new "Playboy" Mansion Penthouse suite and a "Playboy" Nightclub, adorned with an LED screen in the shape of the popular magazine's rabbit logo. Funnily enough, the Fantasy Tower contained a two-story suite that had its own basketball court. This was made as a tribute to George himself, as his family were the  majority owners of the Sacramento Kings at the time. There were also two other themed-suites, including the King Pin suite, containing a small bowling lane, the G Suite, themed after the aformentioned Ghostbar restauraunt, and the Barbie suite, obviously, themed after the Barbie toy line.

Although the new expansion added more to the resort in that time, it wasn't over yet. Immediately after the construction of the Fantasy Tower was completed, the resort announced a new 520-foot condominium tower to be built right next to the resort's towers. Named "Palms Place" it would contain 599 units and would have it's own pool and valet. This new tower would eventually open on February of 2008.

Although the Palms would become both a succesful and iconic property in Las Vegas, competing with other hotels like the Hard Rock and Planet Hollywood, trouble began emerging in 2010, with sudden financial issues involving the casino resort. During the great recession, the casino resort began missing their loan payments, and in the end had a total of a whopping $400 million in debt. However, it was later erased after it was under agreement with TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners in 2011.