El Cortez Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas has completed a $20 million expansion that includes a high-limit lounge, two bars, the Hot Noods by Chinglish restaurant and a Starbucks.
The construction is the latest phase of a multiyear transformation that previously enhanced the property’s original 47 rooms, tower premium rooms and casino-floor bathrooms.
El Cortez opened in 1941, the same year its current CEO and chairman, Kenny Epstein, was born. “To keep this old girl up, we just have to keep on improving it,” Epstein said.
Using space that had previously been a closed restaurant and kitchen, El Cortez added 10,000 square feet of casino space with about 200 additional slot machines and a new high-limit lounge.
One bar was designed to resemble a giant roulette wheel, and another bar features a stage for live performances and a 20-by-10-foot screen for films, music videos and live sports.
“It’s like old Las Vegas, where the lounges were right in the casino,” said Epstein, whose family moved to Las Vegas in 1959.
It was important for Epstein to maintain the vintage vibe of El Cortez amid the expansion. “Even though it’s new, it still looks like a Grand Ole Opry stage and it’s sort of blended into the old hotel,” Epstein said.
Hot Noods, a full-service Asian noodle bar, has bright pink tables, elegant gold chairs, a green-tile wall and dark marble flooring. Neon and a pillar with Asian script, posters and street art reinforce the playful aesthetic.
Epstein, who bought El Cortez from his long-time business partner Jackie Gaughan in 2008, noted that the hotel-casino’s demographic has changed.
Appealing to a changing clientele
“We used to be 70% local and 30% tourist, and our average age was like 53,” Epstein said. “Now we’re about 70% tourists and 30% local, and our average age now is 37.” He credited the opening of Circa Resort & Casino in 2020 for drawing more tourists to downtown and propelling the shift.
“If you have a home and it’s worth X amount of dollars, and somebody builds a home that’s worth five times more than your house next door to you, your house is immediately worth more. So the same thing happened with [Circa’s Derek Stevens] building that hotel downtown in our neighborhood. We love him, and I’m thanking him every day.”
Epstein noted the behind-the-scenes improvements are ongoing since the structure is more than 80 years old. Better air conditioning is being installed in advance of the summer.
“We don’t have a lot of the amenities other hotels in Las Vegas have, so we have to double down, triple down on service and old-time handshaking, and that’s what we’re known for. We take care of our customers,” Epstein said.
