Las Vegas: Red Rock Casino displays scale model for guests to preview upcoming Durango resort

Nevada-based Station Casinos unveiled Thursday a scale model of the forthcoming Durango Casino & Resort, which is currently on display at the company's Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas. 

Durango is being constructed near Durango Drive and the 215 Beltway in the southwest valley, and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2023. Visitors of Las Vegas can now see the final design at Red Rock Casino. 

The handmade scale model project took over 12 weeks to build, as reported by News 3 Las Vegas. It covers eight feet by eight feet and stands four feet tall, with a scale of 1/16 of an inch to one foot. It was crafted by Model Works Inc, with support from Austin Millwork and PlasticMan. 

Red Rock held a private ceremonial groundbreaking for Durango Casino & Resort in March, which was attended by employees and executives including company Chairman and CEO Frank Fertitta III, Vice Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta, and new company President Scott Kreeger. The property is set to create more than 1,000 jobs.

The ceremony marked the start of work on the new resort, in the southwest of the city. The new $750 million venue will feature a 200-room hotel tower and an 83,000-square-foot casino. Gaming options are set to include about 2,000 slot machines and 46 table games.

Early plans made available by the company call for a 216-foot-tall hotel, a casino, pool with an event lawn, four signature restaurants and bars, outlets, a race and sports betting area, 20,000 square feet of meeting and convention space, a nine-tenant food hall, a parking structure and 40 electric vehicle charging stations, plus ample bicycle parking.

In July, Red Rock Resorts said it is set to permanently close and demolish three of its properties in Las Vegas with the intention to sell the land beneath them. The venues are Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho and Fiesta Henderson, which have remained shuttered since March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began. The move was followed by Station Casinos' acquisition of roughly 126 acres at the southwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Cactus Avenue for $172.4 million.