HENDERSON (KTNV) — Henderson officials have officially broken ground on a $206 million expansion at the M Resort. Casino officials said they're constructing a second resort tower, which will add 384 hotel rooms and 15,000 square feet of convention space, which would double the resort's current footprint.
Hussain Mahrous, the Vice President and General Manager of the resort, said they've always had expansion at the back of their minds.
"When Pinta designed the building, there was always the intention of doing a second round of expansion. Obviously, there was the Great Recession and we've had a lot of bumps along the way," Mahrous said. "My goal in taking over the property a little under eight years ago was to keep trying to do things to grow the property so that an expansion of the hotel made sense."
Mahrous added the property has continued to grow since it originally opened in March 2009.
"Starting off with a couple of new restaurant concepts, moving into our 10-year relationship with the Las Vegas Raiders, partnering with Foley Entertainment with the Silver Knights, the indoor football league, the NBA G League and moving into our concert series. We've had Nelly. We've had Flo Ride. We've had Martina McBride. We've had Bush. All of that has been successful in creating the demand to expand," Mahrous said. "We host a lot of great groups and some have outgrown us. I think with the tower, we will be able to get those groups back."
Groups that Henderson mayor Michelle Romero said make a big impact on the local economy.
"The addition of a second tower will be both beneficial and beautiful. Henderson estimates that for every 1,000 leisure visitors, Southern Nevada will see a $1.5 million impact," Romero said. "The hospitality and tourism industry is incredibly important to our financial future and this creates more opportunities to interact with our community. The new tower will help business continue to expand and the M is a major amenity in West Henderson, which continues to grow."
PENN Entertainment's Aaron Rosenthal actually grew up near Henderson and said he never thought his hometown would change this much.
"As a kid growing up not too far from here, I could have never imagined this property would be a project like this. This was wide-open space, as many of my friends and others here can attest. There were a lot of rabbits," Rosenthal said laughing. "There were some parties and bonfires out in some of the clearings. The roads were fantastic for testing out vehicles. I have a lot of fond memories growing up here. That was 30 years ago. It is mind-boggling to see what the City of Henderson has achieved since then."
According to Mahrous, this expansion project is just the beginning of things to come.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg. Some things that we're working on behind-the-scenes that the tower enables us to do is you'll see new restaurant concepts and new entertainments come along as we build that tower."
Mahrous said that they're expecting to start construction in the next 90 days and for the new resort tower to open in the Summer of 2025.
