By Vegas standards, 2026 is shaping up to be a relatively quiet year. (So quiet, we’re already skipping ahead to the wild stuff promised a few years later.) But a few projects are keeping the new year interesting.
🎰 The new Hard Rock resort on the Strip isn’t opening until 2027, but the guitar-shaped hotel tower is coming along nicely and will reshape the skyline before the year is over. Meanwhile, the Cromwell is rebranding itself as the Vanderpump Hotel with a full makeover under the direction of TV star and restaurateur Lisa Vanderpump. (A reality show about any young, dumb, willing, and able employees is on my Vegas vision board for 2026). Over in Henderson, Boyd Gaming is opening Cadence Crossing next to Joker’s Wild (which will close and reopen after a renovation of its own).
🤠 Luke Combs is giving the Strip another country bar when Category 10 takes over the old Margaritaville space as part of an ongoing property-wide revamp at the Flamingo. And if you want less country and more EDM in your life, OMNIA Dayclub should be ready in time for pool season in front of Caesars Palace.
🍸 After closing at Town Square, Blue Martini is shifting away from its “locals-focused” reputation and embracing tourists with a towering three-story location inside the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. The Laugh Factory, a home to entertainers like Murray Sawchuck before the Tropicana went boom, is returning from the dead at the Horseshoe.
🍔 BLVD Las Vegas opened a year ago on the Strip, but doesn’t have much buzz or activity for something so big and shiny. That should change in 2026 as new bars and restaurants begin to make the third level more of a destination spot, beginning with the recently unveiled How Ya Dough’n pizzeria and continuing with the world’s largest In-N-Out Burger.
🚘 With paid parking on the rise in Vegas, it may be more cost-effective to hail a driverless taxi on the Strip, including Zoox (which just signed an exclusive partnership with T-Mobile Arena) or Waymo, which is hitting the Vegas market later this year. Zoox is already active at AREA15 and we’re excited to see the art and entertainment attraction continue to expand, especially with the long-promised arrival of the Museum of Ice Cream.
🏆 The A’s stadium still has a few years to go (and some financing to finalize), but the team will actually show up to play a few games this summer at the Las Vegas Ballpark in Downtown Summerlin. While not as high profile as the Final Four in college basketball, the Frozen Four comes to Las Vegas for the first time to determine the best in college hockey at the T-Mobile Arena. A different kind of sport — the International Fireworks Championship — explodes above the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in February, while the Enhanced Games say “it’s ok” to athletes on steroids at Resorts World in May.
🍜 Otherwise, we’ll see some excitement in the ‘burbs as Stix Asia replaces the Sundry as the resident food hall at UnCommons in a busy corner of the Southwest that includes The Bend, which is adding more tenants soon, and an under-construction Life Time fitness club. On the other side of town, Henderson welcomes The Cliff, a new retail and dining plaza near Green Valley Ranch. And Chinatown will get things rolling on a 10-year redevelopment project to improve and beautify the area.
- One more thing we’re looking forward to in 2026 — the return of an old-school bingo hall on the Strip at Circus Circus 🎪 According to City Cast Las Vegas, this could be a sign of a bingo revival in Las Vegas. [City Cast Las Vegas 🎧]
