Heavy equipment is in place, some of the parking lots have been closed off, the valet entrance to the hotel and casino has been moved, and construction is underway on the expansion of Harrah's Rincon Casino and Hotel in San Diego.
It appears that they are going to double the size of the hotel, add some convention and meeting and banquet space, doing a makeover of the pool area, and in the Spring of 2014 they'll even redecorate the rooms.
They are also supposed to add to the casino space. Right now the casino is just about right for the amount of traffic. I've called in "a Goldilocks casino" for being not too big, not too small, and just right. But if they are going to be adding a lot more rooms plus convention space, the Goldilocks casino could be packed if it is not expanded.
Below are two photos from the monthly mailer that Rincon sends to casino patrons. One photo shows the exterior with a second tower added.
The second photo gives illustrations of what some of the other changes will be: an artist's rendering of a revamped pool area, a restaurant area, a convention area, and finally what the makeover of the hotel rooms should look like. Click on the thumbnails to expand the photos.
What is really interesting is that the name Harrah's is still shown. I know there has been some speculation about rebranding using the name Caesars now that Caesars Entertainment has replaced Harrah's Entertainment as the name of the parent company. I wonder if a change to Caesars might be another step in the makeover of this resort that will be announced later?
I think with a new hotel, and new facilities, and a new makeover, and an expanded casino, changing the name to the well respected Caesars brand might be a clever move in the very competitive Southern California casino market. "Caesars conquers California...." I can see it now.