Harrah's Rincon Construction Photos

[Alan Mendelson]

On your visits to Harrah's Rincon Casino, please remember to take some photos of the construction -- outside and inside -- if you can and post them here so we can all follow the "action."

This photo was snapped from the entrance. It shows what used to be the parking lot outside of Pinks, the Sports Bar area, and the video poker room. The parking lot will be replaced with a new hotel tower and from what we understand the casino will be expanded as well on the first floor.

In the foreground of the photo is a deep hole with a corner support for the new tower. If you have trouble using the Forum's software for posting a photo, send it to alan(at)alanbestbuys.com and I will post it for you. Click on the thumbnail below to enlarge the photo.

[spojoey]

I thought the new tower was going to be in the rear of the casino..With the entrance being where the cage Is now.

[Alan Mendelson]

I thought the new tower was going to be in the rear of the casino..With the entrance being where the cage Is now.

I might have my bearings messed up. Rincon did publish the photo (below) that seems to show the new tower in the front. Perhaps what I was looking at is the Convention Center?



Click on the thumbnail above to expand. This photo was published in the monthly mailer from the casino late in 2012. But when I took a second look at their animation of the complex, you're right, the new tower seems to be in the back and the convention center is in the front. Here it is:



edited to add: And now that Im taking another look, Im starting to wonder if they are adding another parking garage, or are they going to provide shuttle buses for parking further away from the hotel and convention center?

[Alan Mendelson]

Here's another photo of the new construction at the front entrance of the building. By the way, another parking structure is not going to be built. But once the construction is finished, I am told that there will be more outside parking lot space available. Taken on March 7.

[bigfoot66]

I thought that the additional hotel tower was going to be perpendicular and interecting the spa tower. In other words, the line of sight for a clerk behind the check in desk would go directly underneath the new hotel tower.

[Alan Mendelson]

I'm not sure what's what in the construction at the front of the hotel - what my pictures show. I think what you're seeing is the addition of the bankquet facilities and convention area and the expanded casino. Maybe that's where the new tower is also going to be built ... I don't know. Each time I go to Rincon I hope to see a model of the new expansion... how the hotel will look in the future... but if they have on it is not on public display.

You can look at their first animated video above for some ideas but frankly I don't know how that relates to the construction now in progress.

[Alan Mendelson]

Harrah's Rincon just put a new video on YouTube and to be honest I don't know where all this construction is going on? It's certainly not visible from the public areas as you drive in and then drive into the parking garage. Or maybe I'm just not looking for it. It's a lot more construction than what is visible at the front of the building.

[spojoey]

Alan as I said before...The new tower will be In the rear. Right next to where the rear entrance Is also the valet entrance. If you drive around there you will see the tower starting to take shape. 90% of that construction In the video Is taking place In the rear

[Alan Mendelson]

Here are some photos taken on March 21st showing signs of just how big this place is going to be. Click on the thumbnails to expand.

This first photo shows the front of the casino as you enter along the long driveway that takes you to the parking area in the rear. There used to be a parking lot here in front of the entrance to the sports bar on the right and the video poker room on the left. That's gone. I understand that part of the building going up here in the former parking lot will include part of the casino expansion.



The second photo is taken from the second level of the current parking garage and shows the new hotel wing that is being added. This hotel wing is behind the current hotel tower.

[Dan Druff]

I stayed at the Rincon recently and was underwhelmed.

If you can get free rooms there, it's worth going because of your relative proximity to San Diego (45 miles), but the hotel itself is just okay, and is vastly inferior to other CET properties like Caesar's.

Perhaps this will change when the new tower is erected.

The Spa Tower is old and needs renovation.

The Garden Tower is recently renovated, but is LONG (get ready for long walks) and has a motel-like feel to it. Even the elevators are maddeningly slow.

The self-parking thing is a mess during the construction. There's a long drive from the front of the Rincon to the self-parking lot, and you're winding around the building and having to follow obscure signs.

[Alan Mendelson]

Hi Dan, and thanks for joining us, and also thanks for your post alerting everyone to the problem you had at the spa. I appreciate the detail. I never stayed at the hotel and always was a "day tripper" there since it's only less than a two hour drive. I think once they add on the new hotel space, and the convention area the "flavor" of the place will change. Right now I look at it as a "local's casino" for Southern California similar to Pechanga and Morongo. I guess they want to make the place a resort destination? Actually it wouldn't be bad as a resort destination because of its location in Valley Center which is about a half hour "into the hills" and far from the Southern California urban sprawl. What I always liked about the casino is that it wasn't "too big" but it just might become "too big" with the expansion. The one reason why I stopped going to Pechanga was that it was "too big." When you think about it, you don't need a "big casino" -- but only one video poker game, or one blackjack game, or one poker game to play.