Officials with MGM Mirage have announced that the Luxor is scheduled for a major facelift. The iconic black pyramid with its brilliant search light will remain, but the interior of the property will change dramatically.

“We’re not a British museum with ancient artifacts, we’re a casino-resort,” Luxor President and COO Felix Rappaport said. “This was a brilliantly conceived building from the outside.     The pyramid always created a sense of wow and wonder, but the inside never delivered on that promise.”

MGM Mirage is investing $300 million to remodel 80 percent of the property’s public spaces, stripping the property of its ancient Egyptian theme and adding lounges, restaurants and nightclubs. The atrium-level arcade and food court will be transformed to feature more entertainment venues and additional restaurants. Hotel rooms will be remodeled, too.

Rappaport said there is a lot of potential in the property that is going untapped.

“The reality was that we knew this property had great potential,” Rappaport said. “The problem was the place was being run as a dormitory, and not a really well-run dormitory.”

MGM is hoping to brand the Luxor as another upscale Strip casino, and not just additional rooms that feed Mandalay Bay. At one point, even a name change was considered, but given the landmark pyramid design of the interior, that was voted down.

“The brilliance of the Egyptian theme is in the pyramid,” Rappaport said. “Inside, however, it seemed a restaurant or bar was given a trite Egyptian name and the job was done. Las Vegas has moved beyond that overall theming in the last five to 10 years.”

The move is being compared to what MGM Mirage did with Treasure Island, dropping a lot of the pirate-themes, adding restaurants and clubs, and even changing the name to TI.

By Greg Jones

Greg Jones is managing editor of Casino Connection Nevada, as well as associate editor of Global Gaming Business magazine.

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