Firm has major plans in U.S.

Monday, Dec. 5, 2005 | 8:19 a.m.

While Harrah's is looking at breaking into markets overseas, the company still has big plans for its two favorite U.S. markets: Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

By July, Harrah's expects to announce plans for a major redevelopment effort at the site of the company's Harrah's, Imperial Palace, Flamingo and Bally's casinos on the east side of the Strip.

The company also is working on a separate redevelopment plan in Atlantic City, where it owns the contiguous Caesars and Bally's casinos.

Without knowing which of its Las Vegas properties might be torn down and which would be remodeled, experts believe Harrah's is planning a big multiuse project along the lines of MGM Mirage's CityCenter. The $5 billion CityCenter, soon to be under construction at the site of the Boardwalk, will feature a casino resort surrounded by multiple hotels, condo towers and retail stores.

"Those will be very substantial projects," Loveman said of the Las Vegas and Atlantic City developments. The deals, he added, "will be bigger in terms of our own dollars spent" than the company's projects in either Spain or Slovenia, two of the foreign sites where Harrah's hopes to expand.

Liz Benston can be reached at 259-4077 or at benston@lasvegassun.com.