Old-To-New Las Vegas Transition Continues In 2026
In 2026, construction on the Las Vegas Strip will continue to reshap the resort corridor.
Two high-profile construction projects—a Hard Rock hotel-casino and a Major League Baseball Stadium—are closer to being completed by their target dates. Both will add to the Strip’s new look. (Technically, most major resorts on the Strip are outside Las Vegas city limits, but the entire area is referred to, by tourists and locals alike, as “Las Vegas.”)
Meanwhile, Hard Rock Las Vegas President Joe Lupo recently told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that 28 of 42 stories of a guitar-shaped hotel have been completed at the site of the resort previously named the Mirage.
The guitar-shaped hotel is going up in the area where the Mirage's artificial volcano once stood, spewing flames, and, at one time, a piña colada scent. The familiar main Mirage structure is getting a new look on the outside and inside, including on the gaming floor.
Megaresorts Dominate Strip Construction
When casino developer Steve Wynn first opened the Mirage in 1989, it sparked a boom in megaresort construction that led to the demolition of many formerly Mob-linked casinos along the Strip.
Among the resorts that were imploded were the Desert Inn, Riviera, Sands, Stardust, Dunes and Hacienda.
In most cases, megaresorts were built where longtime hotel-casinos once stood. For instance, after the Sands was imploded in 1996, the Venetian resort was opened about three years later at that location.
The Sands was known for hosting the Rat Pack and many other entertainers. Today, a replica set of footprints is embedded in the sidewalk in front of the Venetian where Frank Sinatra and other Rat Pack members were standing for a now-iconic photograph with the Sands sign in the background.
During the 1990s and beyond, megaresort construction continued along the Strip.
In 2021, for example, Resorts World Las Vegas first opened where the Stardust once stood. The Stardust was one of four Argent Corp. casinos in the Las Vegas Valley operated by Chicago sports bookmaker Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal for Midwestern crime families. In the 1995 Las Vegas Mob movie “Casino,” Robert De Niro portrays a character based on Rosenthal. His wife is played by Sharon Stone, pictured. The name of the Stardust was changed to the Tangiers in the movie.
From Sin City To ‘Sports Capital’
Another of the old Mob-linked resorts no longer standing on the Strip is the Tropicana hotel-casino. It was demolished in 2024 to make room for construction of a Major League Baseball stadium. The ballpark is expected to be completed in time for the former Oakland Athletics to move in at the start of the 2028 season. Currently, the Athletics are using a minor league ballpark in Sacramento as their home field.
The Athletics (now facing a patent challenge to variations of its Las Vegas-based name) are another piece in the effort to change Las Vegas’ image from Sin City to the Sports and Entertainment Capital of the World. That effort in recent years has brought the NFL’s Raiders, the NHL’s Golden Knights and the WNBA’s Aces to the region. Several weeks ago, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver indicated Las Vegas might also be in line for a basketball team in that league.
As this transformation takes place, some longtime Las Vegas tourists and residents object to the higher prices that these changes are ushering in. Others contend that Las Vegas, a desert city far removed from any large population area, must evolve to remain competitive now that sports betting is legal in most states and at least 1,000 casinos are spread out across the country.
