In January we previewed plans for Circa Las Vegas. The casino being built across the street from the Golden Gate will be the first ground-up casino on Fremont Street since 1980. Circa is the brainchild of Derek Stevens, owner of The D Las Vegas and Golden Gate casinos.
Construction on the new casino-resort in downtown Las Vegas is about halfway complete. Circa is still on time and on budget to open sometime in December of 2020. There’s no specific opening date just yet. Stevens told a gaggle of media members that he’d like to open earlier in December so they could head into 2021 operating on full speed.
Circa will begin taking reservations for January 2021 and beyond in April 2020. Hotel rooms in December 2020 will become available as construction progresses.
Circa Sports Book
The skeleton of the 3 story sports book looks just like the renderings (below). The huge screen will be in front (facing west towards the Plaza), the VSIN studio will be on the first floor the left (near the Fremont Street Experience, and there will be lots of seating. Altogether, the Circa sportsbook will have a capacity for 1,000 people (sitting and standing).
The second-floor casino that will look down to the sportsbook will be comprised of some casino games but mostly bars and restaurants. Expect an announcement on Circa’s restaurants in January 2020.
The sports book at Circa will be massive. The plans are similar to what was originally revealed in December. The sports book might not be the largest in the world but it will be comprised of three floors. The sports book will be the centerpiece of Circa. There will be multiple access points to enter the sports book.
The Daktronics screen will have 78 million pixels. That’s more than any other Las Vegas Sports Book screen. As you’d imagine the screen can change sizes depending on how many games are on. For example, Saturday and Sunday football will have multiple games on smaller screens. Sunday, Monday, and Thursday night football will be shown on a massive screen depending on how many games from other sports are being played.
Circa Las Vegas Pool Deck
When asked why someone would visit Circa, Stevens said they will come for the sportsbook and the pool. It’s no surprise that the tour took us to look down at the sportsbook and to the pool area. The multi-level 5th-floor rooftop pool deck at Circa will have 337 lounge chairs, 30 cabanas, and 38 daybeds. There will even be “super cabanas” that can fit up to 50 people.
Circa Pool – Open All Year Long
One bit of news is that the Circa pool will be open all year long. The pool complex will consist of six pools on different levels. There will be another massive Daktronics screen at the pool. This one will measure 134 feet x 41 feet. As Stevens puts it, this will be a destination pool. People will stay at Circa because of the pool experience.
The steel framing near the Fremont Street Experience canopy will hold the massive TV screen. It’s easy to see how this pool deck will have a capacity of 4,000 when it’s complete. While it’s easy for me to visualize the sportsbook, it’s not as easy to imagine what the finished pool deck will look like. It’s safe to assume that the pool deck will turn out similar to the renderings too.
The pool area won’t be a dayclub but there will be music playing. During big games, Circa will switch to the audio of the sporting event being shown on the huge TV screen. One thing not mentioned with previous plans is that the Circa pool will have gaming. The northwest corner of the pool deck (closest to Fremont Street) will have a handful of table games.
Garage And More Info
Circa will have a pretty fancy parking garage across the street from the casino. In addition to parking, it will have easy access for rideshare pickup. This can be a problem at some downtown Las Vegas casinos.
There are no plans to charge for parking at Circa. This could change if every other downtown Las Vegas casino decides to charge for parking by the time Circa opens in December 2020.
Standing at 485 feet, this will be the tallest building in downtown Las Vegas. Hotel rooms won’t start until the eighth floor. For reference, this is more than halfway to the top of the California.
777 Rooms
Circa will still have 777 rooms. There will be 512 basic hotel rooms. The rest will be suites. It’s possible that there will be even more rooms down the line as an entire floor will remain vacant when the hotel opens. The floor could have more rooms, suites, or even meeting space.
Stevens is hustling to get Circa finished by December 2020. The progress is impressive. While I’m typically skeptical about opening dates, Circa sure seems like it’s on target to be open in December 2020 and I can’t wait.
