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Vegas Retold

The history of Circa Resort & Casino

Opened October 28, 2020

Circa’s tapered hotel tower in late sunlight, with its name and tall digital screen above lower buildings; part of the California hotel appears at left.
Circa’s tower on October 26, 2020, two days before its casino opening. The hotel rooms opened later.

Sleepap81 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Original photograph retained without editorial alteration. Responsive overview and index displays may crop the presentation.

Circa opened its casino and public attractions on October 28, 2020, bringing a new hotel and casino complex to the Fremont Street end of Main Street. Its hotel followed in December. The official first reservation night was December 28, with an early check-in offer from December 26; the two stages should not be reduced to a single hotel-opening moment.

A new resort on an older block

Developers Derek and Greg Stevens assembled a block that included the Las Vegas Club, Mermaids and Glitter Gulch. Demolition removed the older businesses, with Las Vegas Club tower work still underway in January 2018. Circa was a replacement resort on that wider site, rather than a new name for the Las Vegas Club.

Derek Stevens unveiled the Circa name and design in January 2019. His presentation invoked earlier casino builders while putting sports at the centre of the new project: a multi-level sportsbook and a pool amphitheatre for watching games. The builder, McCarthy, dates construction’s start to February 2019. During the pandemic, the team reorganised work to open the casino and amenities before finishing the hotel tower.

An earlier sign returns indoors

One piece of the earlier streetscape returned inside. Stevens acquired Vegas Vickie in 2016, and YESCO restored the neon cowgirl before its installation at Circa’s lobby bar. The work included rebuilding the moving leg and recreating the painted design from historical photographs and sketches. Her indoor setting preserves an earlier sign within a newly built resort.

A hotel completed in stages

The tower’s development continued after 2020. A late-October 2024 expansion added 106 rooms and suites. In August 2026, Stevens previewed a further 49 rooms on two previously unfinished floors, with September 1 announced as their opening target. The operator’s later suite page still describes Fall/Winter 2026 availability, so the precise completion date of that latest phase remains unconfirmed here.

Circa remains an operating casino hotel at 8 Fremont Street. Its current guest guide requires visitors to be at least 21, including hotel guests and people visiting its restaurants and bars. The property’s sports-focused spaces and restored neon connect its new building with the older entertainment district around it.

  1. Circa’s name and design unveiled

  2. Clearing the block for a new resort

  3. Building Circa during the pandemic

  4. Casino opening and completion of the hotel tower

  5. Official reservations and early hotel check-in

  6. Restoring Vegas Vickie

  7. Vegas Vickie’s new indoor home

  8. Completing more hotel floors in 2024

  9. Another phase of hotel rooms announced

  10. Current Circa guest guide

  11. Current premium suite descriptions

  12. Current mapped Circa building

What remains uncertain

  • Circa’s October 28, 2020 casino opening preceded its December hotel phase. The early check-in offer and official reservation date are distinct.
  • The 2026 room expansion’s announced September 1 target is not treated as independently verified completion; the current suite page gives Fall/Winter 2026 availability.
  • The current Circa building covers a redeveloped block; its map point does not establish the individual footprints of the demolished businesses.

This site through time

Replaced Las Vegas Club

2015 – 2020

Las Vegas Club’s final north-side Fremont Street site was cleared for the larger development that became Circa. The casino closed normally in August 2015; demolition continued into January 2018. Circa’s casino opened in October 2020. This is a replacement on a redeveloped block, not a rename or renovation of the old club. Las Vegas Club’s earlier south-side address was across Fremont Street.

Historical source — Marissa Kynaston, on-site Derek Stevens redevelopment interview and January 18,2018 tower-demolition update. Corroborated by Brock Radke’s January 10,2019 Circa unveiling report identifying the former Las Vegas Club site, and Circa’s December 28,2020 opening release.

  • The redeveloped block also included Mermaids and Glitter Gulch; the two properties do not have identical footprints.
  • The earlier 21–23 Fremont location is not the site mapped by this replacement relationship.
  • A brief licence-preservation slot session in June 2017 was distinct from normal operation.

Replaced Mermaids Casino

2016 – 2020

Mermaids’ former site at 32 Fremont Street became part of the larger Circa development. Ordinary casino operation ended in June 2016; a brief slot session in June 2017 preserved gaming rights before demolition that summer. Circa’s casino opened in October 2020 on a block that also included Las Vegas Club and Glitter Gulch. This is replacement by a new resort, not a Mermaids rename or renovation. La Bayou, across Fremont Street, instead became part of Golden Gate’s expansion.

Historical source — Scott Roeben, August 5, 2017, original demolition account. June 2016 closure independently confirmed by Kristen Peterson’s June 28 final-night report and KNPR June 29 programme text. July 16, 2017 Roeben firsthand account dates temporary Mermaids gaming to June 28. Circa operator December 28, 2020 release confirms October casino opening.

  • The former Mermaids and current Circa have different footprints; this relationship does not equate their complete boundaries.
  • Earlier names at 32 Fremont do not prove uninterrupted business or surviving building continuity.
  • Temporary 2017 slot play was distinct from normal casino operation.
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