We’re nearing the end of what was supposed to be a huge year for Las Vegas, before the pandemic deeply affected the major development projects scheduled to arrive here in 2020. Allegiant Stadium was completed on time but cannot host sellout crowds of 65,000 for football games, while casino-hotel projects Virgin Las Vegas and Resorts World pushed their opening dates to 2021.

But even as Las Vegas slowed down, one key undertaking actually sped up. When it was announced in January 2019, Circa Resort & Casino—a 777-room hotel with multilevel casino, sportsbook and pool spaces—was set to open in December 2020 at the Downtown site where the Las Vegas Club once stood. But this past June, shortly after Nevada casinos were permitted to reopen following the coronavirus shutdown, CEO and developer Derek Stevens announced the property would open early, debuting its first five floors on October 28.

“Everybody was really trying to deal with a lot of different information sets at the time,” Stevens tells the Weekly. “Allegiant construction was ongoing, Resorts World was ongoing, the Las Vegas Convention Center was ongoing, and everyone was just trying to evaluate what was transpiring and trying to stay ahead of the curve as far as information and safety. For us it was a week-by-week type of thing for a while. We were just glad to move forward.”

The Circa team hunkered down with general contractor McCarthy Building Companies and Tré Builders and came up with a new plan to accelerate development by focusing on Circa’s podium—the casino, sportsbook, restaurants, rooftop Stadium Swim pool complex and Garage Mahal parking hub. The 35-story hotel tower, a striking new monument along the Fremont Street skyline, is slated to open in December.

The early arrival is emblematic of the philosophy Stevens has demonstrated since he moved to Las Vegas from Michigan in 2006 and acquired a stake in the Golden Gate, along with his brother Greg. Circa is not only the culmination of what Stevens has learned and accomplished in 14 years at the Golden Gate, the D and the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, it’s the physical embodiment of what he loves most about Las Vegas.

“[Circa] embraces the history of Las Vegas and the history of casinos, while moving away from the current model. I think that’s what is most interesting to me,” says Vegas author and historian David G. Schwartz. “It’s capturing that spirit of [classic Vegas], but it’s not trying to imitate any one thing.”

When Circa was announced last year at the Events Center, local officials and observers hailed the concept for its celebration of vintage Vegas vibes and respectful tribute to the gaming industry pioneers who created the framework of the ubiquitous Vegas experience. It’s the first brand-new resort in the Downtown area in 40 years and the first ground-up casino resort anywhere in the Valley since the short-lived Lucky Dragon opened in 2016.

But while it might be closely connected with Vegas’ past, it has also emerged as an emblem of the city’s immediate future. And Circa’s opening next week should place Stevens among the pantheon of Vegas visionaries.

“Everything he’s done since he arrived in Las Vegas has been preparing for this,” says Schwartz, who has written extensively about the gaming industry in Las Vegas and Atlantic City and authored a book about Caesars Palace and Circus Circus creator Jay Sarno. “We’ve seen [Stevens] progressively get more involved. When he first came to Fremont Street, I don’t think there were other casinos with bars outside, and now that’s the norm. Other properties have adopted those [ideas], and that shows how people can really change the model.”

It shouldn’t take long for visitors to understand Stevens’ vision once they set foot inside Circa. The energetic casino space feels familiar and modern, and its newness will inspire comparisons to the Cosmopolitan on the Strip and Red Rock Resort in Summerlin.

In scale and design, there’s nothing like it Downtown. The Mega Bar stretches almost the length of the casino’s first level on the south end, and at 165 feet, it bests the D’s Longbar as the longest bartop in the city.

On the opposite end, the lobby-area Vegas Vickie’s bar sets a thoughtful tone for the entire Circa experience, built around the iconic, 25-foot-tall kicking cowgirl herself, restored to full beautiful brightness by YESCO.

Circa breaks the mold of multilevel Vegas casinos. Other venues typically create promenade experiences on upper floors with restaurants, retail and attractions. Circa’s second floor houses a 4,575-square-foot signature retail store and the Saginaw’s Delicatessen, Victory Burger and 8 East restaurants (see page 30), but it also maintains high energy with a significant gaming floor and the Overhang Bar looking into the spectacular three-story, 1,000-person capacity sportsbook (see page 32). And the secluded lower level beneath Vegas Vickie’s is built out for Barry’s Downtown Prime, a time machine steakhouse that must be seen to be believed.

“One of the things I found most interesting is Garage Mahal … because it seems like it’s approaching transportation in a totally different way,” Schwartz says of the nine-level structure connected to the casino by a bridge across Main Street. “The ride-sharing [element] is built in from the start, which seems very forward-thinking and could make it a hub for all of Downtown. You also have to look at the sportsbook as a dominant feature in a time when legal sports betting has expanded rapidly across the U.S. People are coming to Las Vegas looking for this.”

The book and the bars built around the sports-viewing experience help make Circa of-the-moment, and the same can be said for Stadium Swim, which boasts massive video screens along with a flexible layout for special events and multipurpose programming.

“The idea for Stadium Swim has been with us for a long time, and it’s really come around,” Stevens says. “The elements for it have been on my mind for quite a while. It’s just about a destination that blends great Las Vegas sunshine with some water and some swimming and having a few drinks with some sports on or some background music playing.

“There’s just something about being outside that’s pretty special in Vegas, and maybe it’s because I grew up in Detroit where … you get to November and don’t see the sun until the end of March. There’s an awful lot of people in the northern states or in Canada who are going to love coming to Stadium Swim.”

If that venue gets utilized as a dayclub, it would be able to host the biggest pool party in Las Vegas—a capacity of more than 4,000. But it has also been designed to attract a more general audience, incorporating sports and music into a welcoming party for visitors from all over.

Stevens knows his audience well and stays connected to the gamblers and guests who frequent the Golden Gate and the D. That connection also powered the confident move to open Circa as the city’s first adults-only casino resort, another unique announcement that landed over the summer.

“I thought the feedback on that would be positive, but it’s been overwhelmingly positive, stronger than what I anticipated,” he says. “There are a couple elements to this. I think when you have people out and about in a casino, they don’t necessarily want to see a baby stroller at midnight. It’s just not the most uplifting thing to see. From that perspective, psychologically it’s better.

“But the key element is the increase of customer service we can provide. When we’re checking IDs at the door, what it does is allow all of our bartenders and table game dealers to not have to go through that, to know these guests are 21. If you go to a nightclub, an advanced customer service experience is part of the deal and it’s expected. So this is how we can upgrade the game.”

Stevens recognizes that Circa might give up potential customers coming to Las Vegas with teenagers or younger children, but he says it’s worth the sacrifice to provide enhanced service for Circa’s guests. And besides, those families could instead book a room at his other properties, the D or the Golden Gate.

“It’s similar to the nonsmoking policy [at Park MGM],” Schwartz says. “We might see other resorts start to differentiate themselves this way. It does make sense for multiproperty companies to try things like this to differentiate.”

Just days ahead of Circa’s opening, Stevens remains focused on the present and the future. He doesn’t yet have time to consider the resort as the culmination of his own Vegas experiences. To locals and industry workers watching these past two years, it sprouted from the ground at Fremont and Main quickly.

“Someone just said that to me and I said, you’re right, it does feel like that, but at the same time, we bought the Vegas Club in 2015,” Stevens says. “It’s [been] a five-year project, and it’s down to the last couple of weeks and it’s all coming together. There is some excitement and some stress and adrenaline.”

Indeed, adapting to the early opening date and operational adjustments for pandemic circumstances have been challenging for the Circa team, and there are sure to be more hurdles ahead. But it’s hard to ignore the positivity that surrounds a major development project coming to life in the current era, and it’s impossible to diminish the excitement that always surrounds a shiny Vegas casino-resort. It’s a perpetually historic event.

“To have all this happen in the last year with the pandemic [has] made it pretty interesting [to see] how we’re able to finish it out,” Stevens says. “I’m very, very proud that Circa can happen in October 2020, because it’s going to be bringing 1,500 new jobs at a point when Las Vegas needs jobs. I guess that’s something I feel special about. It’s coming at the right time for everybody.”