Massive damage scraps early signs of hope for Beau Rivage casino

Saturday, Oct. 8, 2005 | 8:56 a.m.

But a closer look revealed a gloomier picture, and now the resort's Las Vegas-based parent company, MGM Mirage Inc., predicts the Beau Rivage will be the single-biggest loss of any of the 13 casinos lining the Mississippi coast.

Officials estimate fixing the 1,740-room resort could cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take 12 to 16 months - a frustrating setback for the 3,400 employees who worked there.

"When you look at it your heart kind of sinks," said Cindy Nieder, a security supervisor and a Beau Rivage employee since the property opened in 1999. "It was so pretty in here. We had flowers and little shrubs. It was beautiful."

The Beau Rivage was built to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, and its exterior walls and core architectural structure emerged largely intact. But the real damage is inside.

MGM Mirage allowed a reporter inside the Beau Rivage for the first time this week, giving The Associated Press a tour of the damage caused by a tidal surge towering more than two stories - a height the resort's designers hadn't planned for.

The company has hired a small army to revive the Beau Rivage, but debris remains visible in all corners of the gutted first floor.

Large sections of the southern wall facing the Gulf of Mexico have huge gashes from the giant waves that crashed into them repeatedly, and the first two floors of the parking garage were wiped away.

What remains of the front desk is a pile of battered computers. The atrium has been reduced to rubble thanks to the heavy equipment tearing up the floors. The only people milling around are construction workers trying to piece the Beau Rivage back together.

MGM Mirage had spent millions improving the Beau Rivage in recent months, adding a nightclub and new restaurants. Those investments were flushed out to sea. The new $4 million club is gone save the center bar and the coral glass above it.

Many seats in the cavernous showroom that holds 1,550 people were yanked out along with the slot machines on the casino floor. Nickels are scattered everywhere.

The cage, where people cashed their chips, is like a deserted bank, with only the bars and teller stations signaling there was ever a casino here. Almost all the carpet on the first floor has been removed, and the ceilings are exposed, revealing a tangle of electrical wires.

The popular restaurants have disappeared. George Goldhoff, vice president of food and beverage at the Beau Rivage, said his operation was wrecked. A custom-made smoker for the barbecuing the meat has vanished.

"It's not there," he said. "There's no telling where it went."

The brewpub's gleaming, stainless steel beer tanks didn't survive, and the four 10,000-gallon aquariums that held sharks and other marine life were washed out to sea. Goldhoff had no idea what happened to creatures.

"Free Willy, baby," he said.

Architects who inspected the Beau Rivage say it is structurally sound because the design helped mitigate and divert the force of the winds. The barge on which the casino rested managed to remain in place thanks to the oil-rig technology used to construct it. The adjacent marina that has 31 slips and can accommodate huge yachts also escaped the storm's wrath for the most part.

While power hasn't been restored to the entire building, it's possible to take an elevator to the executive offices on the second floor. The sturdy hotel tower and its many rooms are also in good shape - a relief to MGM Mirage executives.

But Goldhoff, who helped open the Bellagio megaresort in Las Vegas, knows he has a daunting rebuilding job in front of him.

The thought of it, he said, "makes the hair on my arm stand up."