Yes, Golden Gate owner Derek Stevens has launched a major expansion of the Golden Gate casino space; construction has just begun and the job should be completed by August. Details are a little sketchy, but apparently, the expansion will swallow up the alley between the Golden Gate and what used to be La Bayou next door. The old La Bayou casino will become a two-story casino with at least 100 slots connected to the GG.
During a recent panel discussion, Stevens was a bit cagey about his grand plans for downtown, though he did predict "a different mix of amenities" at his next project (the highly anticipated replacement for Las Vegas Club/Girls of Glitter Gulch/Mermaids) than what he has at The D and the Golden Gate. Although he didn't reveal any specifics, he promised "other non-gaming signature products."
Stevens’ eventual investment in all his new properties combined is rumored to be on the scale of a half-billion dollars. "It comes down to cleanliness and safety and providing an opportunity where people can have a lot of fun [and say], ‘Oh God, I came to the greatest place ever.’"
"We just finished our forty-sixth design meeting, with many more to go," Stevens told Las Vegas Weekly about the Las Vegas Club project.
In related news, the ax fell abruptly on DuPar’s restaurant in the Golden Gate.
The casino attributed the closure to "financial reasons," saying, "DuPar’s has struggled with payments over an extended period of time."
Blog VitalVegas.com minced fewer words, saying it was rumored that DuPar’s owner Biff Naylor "has bumped up against the IRS in a serious way, so the restaurant won’t be back."
The restaurant was supposed to go dark at midnight on Feb. 8, but management ceased operations at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 7.
Given the rather unceremonious manner in which DuPar’s closing was announced, Derek Stevens took to Twitter to clarify the reasoning behind the shutdown, writing that it "had nothing to do with the rent."
By ruling out one motivation, Stevens only deepened the mystery of what killed DuPar’s.
The DuPar's at Suncoast has been unaffected by the breaking events -- so far.
