Caesars Entertainment to Spend $325 Million on Revamping Harrah’s New Orleans by 2024

Article by : Helen Dec 29, 2020

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One of the top casino-entertainment U.S. companies has revealed its plans for Harrah’s New Orleans, the only casino venue in the city. The company is willing to spend $325 million on transforming the 115,000 sq. ft. property into Caesars New Orleans by adding a hotel tower and renovating its interior and exterior, among other things.

The renovation is planned to be finished by 2024. It is going to include “new culinary and hospitality offerings,” along with the hotel tower and interior and exterior works, as well as “development of the unoccupied area on the second floor” of the building to make good use of it.

The hotel tower will be built above the already present casino valet porte cochère, with 340 more hotel rooms to be available for future Caesars New Orleans’ guests. The interior and exterior will be renovated to match the design aesthetics associated with the iconic Caesars brand.

We are excited to introduce Caesars New Orleans to the city. As the only land-based gaming operator in the city, we take great pride in our 20-year history in New Orleans, and this reinvestment is a testament to our continued commitment.

The announcement was a long-awaited one: Caesars Entertainment agreed to expand the casino-hotel when it applied for the casino license extension to the Louisiana Legislature last year. In August 2019, the state’s Senate passed Bill HB544 – a piece of legislation that effectively made sure Caesars Entertainment will conduct its business in Louisiana as the industry monopolist for thirty more years, until 2054.

As a part of that bill, Caesars took up the obligation to invest $325 million into upgrading its properties and building a new hotel. The company also agreed to be taxed additional tens of millions of dollars to the Louisiana budget and New Orleans until 2054. Furthermore, there were also requirements to the company’s role in the overall employment situation in the area: the company now has to keep a minimum of 2,400-person workforce on its payroll and add 500 more to that after the hotel is opened.

This, along with the fact that the construction works mean 600 new jobs created for the site development itself and 500 more new long-term jobs when the construction is over, prompted LaToya Cantrell, Mayor of New Orleans, to go on record stating her support of the project: “We will continue to move this city forward and fuel our economic recovery, moving important projects that put people to work and entertain residents and visitors alike.”

She continued, “We are excited that this expansion will mean hundreds of construction jobs during the project and hundreds more in sustainable and new jobs post-construction. The addition of Caesars New Orleans will strengthen our city’s position as the top cultural and entertainment destination city in the nation.”

There are still some details on the renovation plans yet to be fleshed out and revealed. For starters, what “new hospitality, entertainment, and culinary offerings” will mean in practice will become clear as soon as Caesars gets the approval of the City and Louisiana Gaming Control Board. Besides, the already submitted renovation plans still have to be greenlit by the New Orleans Building Corporation controlled by the city.