Stick a fork in Crazy Horse Paris. After an honorable, 11-year run at MGM Grand, it’s ringing down the curtain for the last time on Oct. 1. No plans for the space have been announced beyond “a surprise new joint venture on the Las Vegas Strip,” which is usually CorporateSpeak for, “We have no frigging idea at this point.” It does strongly imply that Philippe Lhomme (yes, “Philip The Man”) may be taking his production company to a different MGM casino. A “going out of business” two-for-one ticket offer to locals obliquely pinpoints the cause of death: flagging box office.
Deepening the intrigue, MGM Grand President Scott “Undercover Boss” Sibella is quoted thusly, “As we are currently in the process of a 360-degree property renovation which includes enhancements to the guest rooms, casino floor and restaurants, we jointly decided to allow each other to explore other avenues.” Kinda makes it sound like Crazy Horse was politely but firmly asked to vacate the premises in furtherance of the master plan. Although there’s nothing Sibella can do to make the Green Monster smaller, there can be little argument that the Grand is overdue for a major re-think. If they could lose the submarine-like “West Wing” rooms that are a holdover from the old Marina Hotel (engorged whole by the Green Monster), it’d be a consummation devoutly to be wished.
As for Crazy Horse Paris, I always found it a stultifying and disassociative spectacle — save when Carmen Electra graced the premises — so I can’t say it will be missed. If you’re in Vegas and simply must see a topless show, either Jubilee! at Bally’s Las Vegas or Fantasy at Luxor are vastly preferable … especially now that the latter is no longer billed by MGM as “Carrot Top Fantasy.” As my former colleague Ivy Hover once wrote, those are three words that should never appear in the same sentence.
Speaking of MGM … although it has excluded Circus Circus from M Life, cut back on Adventuredome ad buys and reportedly did no in-house promotion of The Chuck Jones Experience (a must-see), CEO Jim Murren is evidently sticking by his promise that the Clown House will have to be pried from his cold, dead fingers. Via the grapevine, I’ve heard tell that Murren was offered a cool billion for Circus Circus and all the attendant acreage, which extends up to Sahara Avenue … mooted site of CityCenter North, never to be built. Even though MGM is throwing multi-billion-dollar offers at the City of Toronto, in hopes of building what I provisionally call “CityCentre North” and is groaning under debt, it appears to believe that it is in — or upon the cusp of — a seller’s market.
I am surprised that Jim Murren would not take that $1 billion dollar offer for Circus Circus and all that land down to Sahara Avenue. The total acreage there would seem to be around 80 to 90 acres. I doubt that a multibillion dollar hotel/casino would be built there until maybe 2024 at the earliest (look at Echelon next door).
You have enough land there to build a golf course, a Grand Prix motor racing track, a waterpark or an amusement park or a combination of both. The question is who is the company making the offer?
One assumption (this is a wild guess) is that maybe Disney is interested in buying that land and building a huge amusement park/waterpark on it and upgrading Circus Circus to make it a nice hotel/casino. Disney could attract both tourists and locals and Disney has deep, deep, deep pockets so this might be a possibility.