In Praise of Parking
This magazine , Casino Style , and its predecessor , Casino Design , celebrate the design , construction and renovation of new or existing casinos , and the ones featured in this year ’ s annual edition certainly are no exception to that rule .
But often you have to demolish to begin again , and that ’ s what has happened up and down the Las Vegas Strip and in other areas of the country . It seems that some casinos have a “ use by ” date and no matter how much renovation you put into an existing casino , it ’ s not enough and it must come down .
Funny thing , however . After almost every demolition , one thing remains and one thing only — the parking garage !
We ’ ve long heard and reported in the pages of this magazine about the advantages of choosing to build a parking garage versus almost any other expansion project — the chief one being that the return on investment is by far the best . The worst ? A golf course , according to all the experts .
But now we see that parking garages are survivors . Let ’ s look at Atlantic City , where parking garages are really a necessity since there are few places for patrons to park on that small island .
It all started with Harrah ’ s , which built a modern parking garage when it opened in the early 1980s featuring free parking — all other casinos in town charged at least $ 5 .
Then in the rush to build parking garages , there were some mishaps . The Claridge casino went for years without a parking garage but finally managed to build a very nice one . The first day it was open , a woman drove through the retaining cables on a high floor and killed herself and her passenger . A few years later , the rush to build a parking garage at the Tropicana saw several floors collapse using a new concrete composite , killing four workers .
So it ’ s probably a little surprising that when the Sands was imploded in 2007 for a new , never-built casino , the parking garage was left intact , and sits like a sentinel over the property to this day . Same thing happened when Trump Plaza was destroyed last year . The parking garage remains .
Roger Gros , Publisher
Earlier this year in Las Vegas , Station Casinos decided that it would not reopen four casinos that closed during the pandemic , and to make sure of the deed restriction barring any other casinos to be built there after the land was sold , the properties came down . The three that had parking garages , Fiesta Henderson , Fiesta Rancho and Texas Station ? You guessed it . The casinos are no more but parking garages remain untouched .
It turns out that parking garages are a mix of art and science , but no matter how they are built , they endure . The image of parking garages as dark tombs where you scurry to the elevators to avoid predators has pretty much been dissipated . The new Circa , which opened last year in Downtown Las Vegas , made parking a centerpiece of its marketing campaign . The “ Garage Mahal ” at Circa features bright lights , colorful murals and crystal clear signage . Any casino parking garage now has to have a façade that blends into the property .
The science part comes in with the durability of the materials used . Parking garages have to “ breathe ,” and you sometimes can feel that motion as you drive up and down the access ramps .
And designing that access is scientific as well . Whether you can enter a tight winding ramp to exit or the architects can have you blissfully following signs to the exit without worrying about losing control of your vehicle is clearly a mind game , as well as an efficient exit plan .
In Las Vegas , where most casinos now charge for parking , a new element has been added to the equation . Little lights hovering over each space glow either red ( occupied ) or green ( open ) so drivers can distinguish the ability to find a space . Unfortunately , there has been something of a backlash — at least among locals — who bristle paying for something that was free for so long .
So those long-overlooked parking garage architects and designers have something to be proud of . They have outlasted the casinos they were built to serve , emphasizing the importance of efficient and effective design and operation of what might be the most important part of your casino complex .
A GLOBAL GAMING BUSINESS PUBLICATION 2022
Roger Gros , Publisher | rgros @ ggbmagazine . com twitter : @ GlobalGamingBiz
Frank Legato , Editor | flegato @ ggbmagazine . com twitter : @ FranklySpeakn
Jess Marquez , Managing Editor jmarquez @ ggbmagazine . com
Monica Cooley , Art Director mcooley @ ggbmagazine . com
Terri Brady , Sales & Marketing Director tbrady @ ggbmagazine . com
Becky Kingman-Gros , Chief Operating Officer bkingros @ ggbmagazine . com
Lisa Johnson , Communications Advisor lisa @ lisajohnsoncommunications . com twitter : @ LisaJohnsonPR
Columnists Paul Heretakis | Carl Long
Contributing Editors Dave Bontempo twitter : @ bontempomedia Pamela Jones | Marjorie Preston | Patrick Roberts __________________
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Rino Armeni , President , Armeni Enterprises
• Mark A . Birtha , Senior Vice President & General Manager , Hard Rock International
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4 CASINO STYLE 2022