Aside from some improvements recently made in some of its rooms, the legendary Las Vegas Plaza Hotel and Casino in downtown Las Vegas seem to be frozen in time, and regardless of the substantial changes taking place in Las Vegas, the hotel still offering an old school environment, cheap room rates, affordable drinks and lots of vintage decoration and memorabilia everywhere you look. Cosmetically, the Las Vegas Plaza hasn’t changed much since its creation, however, there are indications revealing that Tamares Las Vegas Properties, owners of the Plaza, is planning to give the famous downtown Hotel more than a new paint job. After losing a court case against Elad Group from using the Plaza name on a future project located on the Strip, Tamares has decided to give the Plaza brand a new and fresh air and is already working in a series of renovations that could eventually bring the property back from the 70’s.

Jonathan Jossel, Tamarez representative in Las Vegas is currently organizing several prototype rooms which will be evaluated by Tamares officials with the idea of selecting a model on where a broader room renovation can be based on. But even when renovations are mostly superficial, the new rooms feature major upgrades compared with the existing offerings. One of these upgrades is the new bathrooms in the prototype rooms. Bathrooms in the Plaza's rooms have design limitations that make impossible to increase the area without raising the costs. Instead, Jossel used some equally effective tricks and directed workers to take down a wall that divides the bathroom sink and mirror from the main room and install a new frosted-glass door to divide the bath and toilet area. The result is a room with a larger feel and cleaner bath areas at a lower cost.

Jossel said Tamares would eventually like to take the Plaza Hotel and Casino to a level similar to the Golden Nugget’s category, according to him, that would not only help the hotel to set higher room rates but also help the Plaza take advantage of its large convention facilities.

"We have the biggest convention space downtown. We want to hold events here and get (attendees) to stay here." he said.

Renovations at the Plaza could cost between $8,000 and $12,000 per room depending on the prototype elected by Tamarez officers, which would take the costs of renovating the 1037 rooms to an approximate of $8.3 million to $12.4 million, plus the cost of restoring and redecorating hallways and other spaces. The Plaza’s renovations do not include the casino at the moment, the casino had some cosmetic upgrades in recent years but still isn't at the same level as the Golden Nugget or even some modest Strip casinos. Tamares has subcontracted a company to operate the casino, which would need to participate in any renovation.

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