The Strat
The Strat is a hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It includes a observation tower, the tallest in the United States. It is also the second-tallest observation tower in the Western Hemisphere, surpassed only by the CN Tower in Toronto, Ontario. The top of the tower includes a revolving restaurant, lounges, observation decks, and several thrill rides. The hotel and casino are at the base of the tower, and the resort also includes a showroom and a shopping mall. The Strat is within city limits on Las Vegas Boulevard, just north of the Las Vegas Strip. The resort is sometimes considered a Strip property, but Clark County does not officially recognize it as such, saying the Strip does not extend into the city.
Part of the property was previously occupied by Vegas World, a hotel and casino Bob Stupak opened in 1979. A decade after its opening, Stupak announced plans for a giant neon sign for Vegas World, to be built on adjacent property. The idea soon evolved into an observation tower with a rooftop restaurant. Construction of the Stratosphere Tower began in 1992. A fire of unknown origin occurred on the tower in August 1993, during construction. Stupak then had difficulty acquiring funds to finish the tower. To complete the project, he partnered with Grand Casinos, owned by his poker friend Lyle Berman.
The tower was originally proposed with a height of. But in 1994, Stupak considered extending the height to, seeking the title of tallest free-standing structure in the world. The Federal Aviation Administration opposed the new height, and the city ultimately rejected it, but allowed Stupak to go as high as. Vegas World closed on February 1, 1995, and its hotel towers were remodeled to serve as the hotel for the Stratosphere. New hotel towers were built to accompany the existing buildings. The observation tower, which cost $70 million to build, was topped off on November 4, 1995.
The $550 million Stratosphere complex opened on April 30, 1996. Parts of the resort were unfinished at the time, including a hotel tower and sections of the shopping mall. The Stratosphere was built in a crime-ridden neighborhood known as Naked City. The resort struggled financially during its first year for a number of reasons, including its location away from the Strip and other resorts. Marketing was also limited, as Berman initially believed the tower had generated enough publicity on its own. The unfinished facilities were another factor in the resort's low revenue.
Stratosphere Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1997, and businessman Carl Icahn purchased the resort in 1998. Icahn had the remaining hotel rooms finished in 2001 as part of a $65 million renovation project. The resort became profitable under his ownership by targeting value-conscious visitors. In 2004, ownership was transferred to Icahn's company, American Casino & Entertainment Properties. Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds purchased ACEP and the Stratosphere in 2008. Two years later, ACEP carried out a $20 million renovation that included remodeling the hotel rooms. Other renovations continued into 2012. Golden Entertainment purchased ACEP and the Stratosphere in 2017, and additional renovations began in 2018, continuing into 2020. The resort was rebranded as The Strat on January 22, 2020.
History
In 1974, Bob Stupak opened a small casino in Las Vegas known as Bob Stupak's World Famous Million-Dollar Historic Gambling Museum and Casino, north of the Las Vegas Strip on land previously occupied by the Todkill/Bill Hayden Lincoln Mercury Dealership. The casino burned down two months later, and Stupak opened his Vegas World hotel and casino on the same property in 1979.Conception
Stupak's concept for the Stratosphere began as a plan to construct a neon sign tower for Vegas World. In October 1989, Stupak submitted plans to the city for the approval of the neon sign tower, which would stand four times taller than the hotel. A few days later, he withdrew his plans to allow time for a revised version of the tower that would include an elevator leading up to an observation deck. Stupak, who wanted the tower to become a local landmark, said, "What I'm trying to do for Las Vegas is what the Eiffel Tower did for Paris, what the Empire State Building did for New York, what the Seattle Space Needle did for Seattle." Stupak's plans received widespread opposition, including from Las Vegas city staff, who drafted an ordinance that would have limited signs to 35 feet. The Las Vegas City Council rejected the ordinance, considering it a poorly drawn measure aimed specifically at stopping Stupak's project.In February 1990, Stupak unveiled his revised plans for a $50 million, observation tower with a top floor that would include a revolving restaurant and four penthouse suites. It would be the tallest structure in Las Vegas and in Nevada. The tower was designed by architect Ned Baldwin, who also worked on the CN Tower in Toronto. Stupak's vision for the project was inspired by the Sydney Tower in Australia, where he once lived. In April 1990, the city council approved Stupak's tower, despite objections from the Federal Aviation Administration, which said it was too tall. Nellis Air Force Base also opposed the tower. Stupak later said that "all sorts of people out there opposed" the tower, adding, "If it wasn't for the courage of the council, it would have never been built." Critics later called the project the "eighth blunder of the world" and "Stupak's shaft."
In October 1991, the city approved the tower's base and shaft; the pod atop the tower had yet to be approved. At the time, Stupak was trying to obtain financing for the now-$100 million project and was also under investigation by gaming officials over allegations that he used deceptive advertising to lure customers to Vegas World. The project was now planned to include the "world's first indoor African lion's park", consisting of a jungle habitat at the tower base; this feature was eventually scrapped.
Groundbreaking for the project, known as the Stratosphere Tower, took place on November 5, 1991. The start of construction had yet to be announced for the tower, which was still opposed by the FAA.
Construction
Construction of the $32 million tower began in February 1992, on property adjacent to Vegas World. Multiple architectural and engineering firms monitored the construction to ensure structural integrity. The tower was built directly north of the Las Vegas Strip and south of downtown Las Vegas, in an area known as Meadows Village, a crime-ridden neighborhood nicknamed Naked City. Shortly before its opening, a Stratosphere spokesman said, "We hope Stratosphere will be the catalyst that spurs redevelopment" in the area, while acknowledging, "We plunked down a half-billion-dollar project in the middle of one of the worst neighborhoods."On August 29, 1993, around midnight, hundreds of customers at Vegas World were evacuated when the half-finished tower caught on fire. No one was hurt. The cause of the fire was never determined. Parts of the tower were blackened, but the fire caused no structural damage. The tower is made of concrete and steel. The fire delayed the opening, which had been planned for August 1994, by eight weeks. Stupak said the tower's first phase would still be ready in time with an accelerated construction schedule. A large crane atop the tower, used for construction, was also damaged in the fire. The next month, high winds prevented the scheduled dismantling of the crane, a process expected to take two days.
After the fire, Stupak had trouble financing the completion of the tower. To continue construction, Grand Casinos announced plans in November 1993 to purchase 33% of the Stratosphere and Vegas World by acquiring shares in Stupak's Stratosphere Corporation. Grand Casinos, owned by Stupak's poker friend Lyle Berman, ultimately purchased a 43% stake in the resort.
As construction continued in April 1994, the tower was over tall. That month, Stupak announced that he was considering an extension of the tower's height, which would bring it to, beating the CN Tower by and making the Stratosphere the tallest structure in the world. This new height was opposed by the FAA, the Airline Pilots Association, and McCarran International Airport, on the grounds that it would force changes in air traffic patterns. The FAA said the tower would be an aviation hazard, but its developers argued that the height would make it a major tourist attraction.
Stupak and Grand Casinos developed a laser light show for the tower in case the city rejected the new height. A lawyer for the project said, "If we can't have the world's tallest tower, we'll have the world's most beautiful tower." The FAA also opposed the laser show, citing previous incidents around the country in which pilots were temporarily blinded by laser lights. In June 1994, the city rejected Stupak's new height proposal but allowed him to go up to, higher than he had originally proposed. The tower was ultimately built out to the city's maximum height, though the FAA still considered it a hazard.
Grand Casinos completed its purchase of Vegas World at the end of 1994, and the hotel-casino closed on February 1, 1995, for remodeling to be integrated into the resort. Vegas World's two hotel towers, consisting of 932 rooms, were renovated to become part of the Stratosphere. A month after the closure, Stratosphere Corporation began selling bonds worth $203 million. The company hoped to raise money to finish the tower and pay Stupak the $50.8 million purchase price for Vegas World. Stupak's critics did not believe he could complete the tower, in part because of his controversial promotional tactics at Vegas World. Critics had also believed that completion would be unlikely after the 1993 fire and the FAA's opposition. After a 1995 motorcycle accident left Stupak in a coma for 12 days, he said the controversy and "all the complaining" about the tower stopped: "There were people who didn't like the tower, this and that, but after the accident, it was like nobody had anything negative to say about it."
During 1994, crews erected a crane—taller than the earlier one—that allowed them to continue work on the tower. The 75-ton crane was tall and was installed over four days. Removal of the crane began in October 1995, with the use of a second crane. Dismantling the crane was one of the most significant challenges for those working on the tower. The tower pod's unique design and its limited space required construction crews to carefully plan the installation of the second crane, which weighed 30 tons. The second crane lowered pieces of the original crane to the ground, and then lifted a seven-ton derrick into place, allowing workers to carry down sections of the second crane. The derrick was then disassembled by hand, and workers used a construction elevator to bring down the pieces. The complex and risky process was expected to take nearly two months. The tower was topped off with a ceremony on November 4, 1995. A helicopter was used to lift two steel frames to the top. Six workers, strapped to the tower, helped guide the final sections into place.
Years before the Stratosphere's opening, a three-block neighborhood of houses in Meadows Village was demolished to make room for the resort's 4,500-space parking garage. In 1994, officials from the Stratosphere project—north of the Aztec Inn motel-casino—agreed with the city's Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency to have the Aztec Inn's parking lot condemned through eminent domain and turned over to the Stratosphere. The Aztec Inn opposed the agreement, and in 1995 a judge ruled it unconstitutional. By April 1996, the Aztec Inn settled with the Stratosphere and agreed to sell its parking lot.
Separately, the Stratosphere agreed to provide free rent and relocation expenses to approximately 140 residents in a nearby area of Meadows Village that was cleared for an eventual expansion of the resort. An additional hotel tower had been planned for the land, directly north of the resort; were already occupied by several businesses, and this portion of the land was to be seized through eminent domain, but three property owners fought the seizure in a court battle that lasted into the next decade. The proposed expansion never took place.