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Circus Circus Reno

Coordinates: 39°31′53″N 119°48′57″W / 39.531428°N 119.815698°W / 39.531428; -119.815698
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Circus Circus Reno
Location Reno, Nevada, U.S.
Address 500 North Sierra Street
Opening dateJuly 1, 1978; 46 years ago (1978-07-01)
ThemeCircus
No. of rooms625
Total gaming space66,515 sq ft (6,179.4 m2)
Permanent showsCasino cabaret
Circus acts
Signature attractionsCarnival midway
OwnerEldorado Resorts
ArchitectDavid Jacobson Associates
Worth Group
Renovated in1981: North Tower
1985: Sky Tower
1995: Silver Legacy Sky Bridge access
1997: North Parking Garage and Art Gecko's Southwest Grill
1998: Main Street Deli
1999: Courtyard Buffet, Kokopelli's Sushi and Three Ring Coffee Shop
2000: Amici's Pasta & Pizza
2001: Amici's Pasta & Steaks
2002: The Steakhouse at Circus
2004: Americana Café and Bonici Brothers
2008: Smokin' Gecko's BBQ
2012: Dos Geckos Cantina
2016: Carnival midway, Sips Coffee & Tea and El Jefe's Cantina
2017: Kanpai Sushi, North Tower, Panda Express, Piezzetta Pizza Kitchen, The Habit Burger Grill, Madame Butterwork's Curious Café and Yogurt Beach
2018: Sky Tower
Coordinates39°31′53″N 119°48′57″W / 39.531428°N 119.815698°W / 39.531428; -119.815698
Websitecircusreno.com

Circus Circus Reno is a hotel and casino located in Downtown Reno, Nevada. It anchors a network of connected hotel-casinos in the downtown Reno core that includes Silver Legacy Reno and Eldorado Reno and are owned and operated by Eldorado Resorts. It includes a 625 room hotel and a 66,515 sq ft (6,179.4 m2) casino which features free circus acts on a regular basis throughout the day over the midway which also offers 33 carnival games.[1]

It was the second-largest hotel in downtown Reno (and third-largest in the Reno area overall) by number of rooms.

Previous owners of Circus Circus Reno were Mandalay Resort Group, formerly known as Circus Circus Enterprises (1978–2005) and MGM Resorts International, formerly known as MGM Mirage (2005–2015).

History

The main structure was originally built as a Gray, Reid & Wright department store which, at the time, was the only department store in the state of Nevada. Originally opened on November 7, 1957, the structure replaced a prior store location which was destroyed by a gas explosion on February 5, 1957, and is now the site of the Palladio condominiums. The new store contained 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2) of retail space and 6,000 feet (1,800 m) of storage space in a basement and 2 retail floors accessible by escalators, and had 45 departments including an electronics shop selling televisions and radios, a bookstore, record store, and wine shop, as well as a restaurant, beauty salon, and cobbler.

1977 brought about plans to enlarge the store, adding 2 additional floors, 102 hotel rooms and a casino. The casino would have been known as Camp 14 and would have had a logging theme. The south portion of the first floor would have remained under the name Grey Reid's, but would sell only woman's clothing and would contain an expanded beauty salon. The plan never materialized and Grey Reid's moved to a new location in the Old Town Mall (now known as the Reno Town Mall) in July of that year. Instead, the owners were approached by Circus Circus Enterprises, the operating company of Circus Circus Las Vegas.[2] After about a year of renovations, the casino opened on July 1, 1978, about a decade after its Las Vegas counterpart, and on the same day as the opening of the Sahara Reno and the expanded Money Tree Casino. Circus Circus Reno was inspired by the gaming boom spurred by the new MGM Grand Reno, casino companies wanted to gain some of that momentum. The Reno Circus opened with a small hotel and very similar attractions to its Las Vegas counterpart.

It has one hotel tower: The North Tower. The North Tower, with 625 rooms, was opened in 1981 and has a height of 225 ft (68 m) and 22 floors. The Sky Tower (temporarily renamed as Wolf Pack Tower), with 905 rooms, was opened in 1985 and has a height of 278 ft (84 m) and 27 floors which is now leased to the University of Nevada, Reno since 2019 by Eldorado Resorts. In 1995, extensive renovations were completed, including the remodel of the mezzanine level where the restaurants are located, the midway and a sky bridge connecting to the Silver Legacy. The towers were connected by a custom made monorail.[3]

In 2008, it had planned on adding an indoor swimming pool. Until the opening of the Silver Legacy in 1995, hotel guests at Circus Circus did not have access to swimming facilities. According to a rendering on the Circus Circus website, the pool would have been under a glass canopy, placed atop the sky bridge tram station.[4] As of July 2010, construction had yet to begin, and all references to the project on the resort's website have been removed which discontinued the project.

The Topsy The Clown sign was designed by Gordon Tietjen and manufactured by Young Electric Sign Company.

On July 7, 2015, MGM Resorts International agreed to sell its properties in Reno (Circus Circus Reno and a 50% stake in the Silver Legacy) to Eldorado Resorts for $72.5 million.[5][6] The sale was approved and completed in November later that year.[7][8][9][10][11][12]

On September 5, 2016, Eldorado Resorts permanently shut down the Courtyard Buffet (formerly Big Top Buffet). It was replaced with a contemporary fast casual food court (which included Panda Express, Piezzetta Pizza Kitchen and The Habit Burger Grill) which is similar to Station Casinos and other places. The Courtyard Buffet name was used from 1999 to 2016.[13]

On August 1, 2019, Eldorado Resorts reached an agreement with the University of Nevada, Reno to lease the Sky Tower (temporarily renamed as Wolf Pack Tower) to students.[14][15] It reduced the rooms for hotel guests to 625.

References

  1. ^ "Listing of Financial Statements Square Footage". Nevada Gaming Control Board. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
  2. ^ Hinman, Debbie (Summer 2010). "The Grey, Reid, Wright Company: A Nevada Institution". FootPrints. 13 (3). Historic Reno Preservation Society: 8–11.
  3. ^ Potter, John (12 July 2012). "A New Look at a Reno Classic: Downtown's Sky Shuttle". KTVN. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  4. ^ "Reno Coming in 2008 - New Swimming Pool and Room Remodels - Circus Circus Reno Hotel and Casino". Archived from the original on October 17, 2007. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
  5. ^ O'Driscoll, Bill (July 7, 2015). "Eldorado to take full ownership of Silver Legacy, Circus Circus". Reno Gazette-Journal. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  6. ^ Stutz, Howard (July 7, 2015). "MGM sells Reno casino holdings for $72.5 million". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  7. ^ Morris, J.D. (November 5, 2015). "Sale of two MGM Resorts casinos in Reno gets initial regulatory OK". Vegas Inc. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  8. ^ Stutz, Howard (November 5, 2015). "Gaming regulators tentatively OK Eldorado's purchase of MGM's Reno casinos". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  9. ^ Stutz, Howard (November 19, 2015). "Gaming Commission signs off on 3 casino industry buyouts". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  10. ^ "Officials OK sale of Circus Circus, Silver Legacy". Associated Press. Reno Gazette-Journal. November 20, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  11. ^ Stutz, Howard (November 24, 2015). "Eldorado completes $72.5M purchase of MGM's Reno properties". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  12. ^ Higdon, Mike (November 24, 2015). "It's official: Eldorado Resorts buys Circus Circus and Silver Legacy". Reno Gazette-Journal. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
  13. ^ Higdon, Mike (September 26, 2016). "Eldorado Resorts $50M investment into downtown Reno casinos revealed". Reno Gazette-Journal. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  14. ^ O'Day, Carla (August 2, 2019). "Circus Circus to House UNR Students Displaced by Dorm Explosion". This is Reno.
  15. ^ Johnson, About the Author Taylor. "UNR, Eldorado Resorts reaches $21.675 million agreement to create Wolf Pack Tower". The Nevada Sagebrush. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
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