Harrah's plans new bars and restaurants on Las Vegas Strip

LAS VEGAS, NV -- As reported by the Las Vegas Sun: "More than two years ago, executives at Harrah's Entertainment made a momentous decision: They wouldn't tear down any of their Las Vegas
Harrah's Las Vegas, NV  casinos to build new ones.

They didn't announce their intentions at the time. The economy was still humming, and with tourism booming and new resort construction expected by consumers and demanded by investors, the decision was something of a dirty secret.

Their plan was nothing less than a rejection of the implosion-punctuated business model that has defined Las Vegas for decades. In place of a new casino resort, Harrah's came up with an idea that was more Bourbon Street than Las Vegas Boulevard.

Internally dubbed "Project Link," the plan calls for a collection of about 20 restaurants and bars to be built along a winding corridor between the company's O'Sheas and Flamingo casinos, on the east side of the Strip.

With a mix of "eclectic" and "mostly casual" restaurants and bars opening to the street, it's an attempt to create the kind of entertainment district that has developed organically in cities such as Los Angeles, Memphis and New Orleans yet is lacking on the Strip, with its enclosed, casino-centric zones.

The company declined to discuss the project's cost.

To fine-tune the idea, Greg Miller, Harrah's senior vice president of resort development, spent months studying pedestrian environments across the country, analyzing Strip traffic patterns and surveying customers.

"Another casino didn't make a lot of sense," said Miller, who developed theme parks for Universal Studios before joining Harrah's five years ago. "It's tough to make that math work..."