New Orleans hotel planned

Thursday, March 4, 2004 | 11:13 a.m.

Harrah's Entertainment Inc. of Las Vegas said Wednesday it will build a $142 million, 26-story hotel tower at its Harrah's New Orleans Casino to house gamblers overnight.

The 450-room hotel will open in 2006, Las Vegas-based Harrah's said in a statement. The casino is near the city's French Quarter.

The casino has no hotel rooms to host gamblers now, the result of opposition from local hotel owners who feared a loss of business when the casino opened in the early 1990s, spokesman Gary Thompson said. The lack of hotel rooms contributed to the property twice filing for bankruptcy. In 2001, Louisiana granted Harrah's the right to add rooms to the property.

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