Harrah's delays Caesars Palace tower expansion

The 23-story Octavius Tower was topped off in October and scheduled to open this summer as part of a us$ 1 billion expansion at the casino-resort. Harrah’s said that other parts of the expansion will open on schedule, including 10,219 sqm of meeting space, an expanded pool and garden area and three 929 sqm luxury villas. The Las Vegas-based company said strong advance bookings justify finishing the new meeting space.

The company planned to finish the exterior of the building on schedule but leave the interior unfinished. It did not set a new timetable for opening the rooms, but said they would be prepared to open within months of whenever demand improves.

Harrah’s said it did not anticipate layoffs at Caesars Palace as a result of its delay. Spokeswoman Jacqueline Peterson declined to say how much it would cost the company to finish the tower’s interior.

Last week, at another project on the Strip, MGM Mirage and Dubai World subsidiary Infinity World Development Corp. - partners in building the 25-floor, 400-room Harmon Hotel & Spa and the rest of the massive CityCenter project - said they would defer us$ 200 million in costs by doing the same thing with that hotel.

They also cut out 200 condominium units, blaming the changes on both a construction problem and the economy. The world’s largest gambling company by revenue, Harrah’s owns or manages 50 casinos in six countries. It lost us$ 415.1 million for the first nine months of 2008.