Caesars Entertainment Bringing Nobu Hotels and Restaurants to Atlantic City, New Orleans

Posted on: September 21, 2021, 01:38h. 

Last updated on: September 21, 2021, 01:48h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Caesars Entertainment and Nobu Hospitality are expanding their partnership in the United States.

Caesars Entertainment Nobu Hotel De Niro
Robert De Niro stands on a rooftop at Caesars Palace in 2013 after the casino announced a new hotel development with his hospitality brand, Nobu. Fast-forward to 2021, and Caesars Entertainment and Nobu are further expanding on their business partnership. (Image: Nobu Hospitality)

Caesars revealed plans today for Nobu hotels and restaurants at Caesars Atlantic City and Harrah’s New Orleans. The release additionally confirmed a multimillion-dollar refreshing of the Nobu Hotel at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, plus a new Nobu restaurant at Paris Las Vegas.

Nobu is a restaurant and hotel brand conceived in the early 1990s by celebrity Chef Nobu Matsuhisa, Hollywood royalty Robert De Niro, and film producer Meir Teper.

The first Nobu hotel opened inside Caesars Palace Las Vegas in 2013. Nobu today also has hotels in Chicago, Miami, and Palo Alto, as well as internationally in the UK, Spain, Poland, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and the Philippines.

Nobu specializes in sushi, with fresh fish imported daily from Asia. The restaurant concept is billed as Japanese-Peruvian fusion.

AC, Big Easy Investment Mandates

Caesars Entertainment secured a 30-year licensing extension for Harrah’s New Orleans in 2019. But Louisiana’s approval came with a series of costly conditions.

Under the three-decade pact with the state, Caesars pledged to invest at least $325 million in property upgrades to its Big Easy casino. A large portion of that budget will be used to build a new 340-room hotel tower.

Nobu Hotel New Orleans, Caesars says, will open inside the new — and rebranded — Caesars New Orleans — in 2024.

In Atlantic City, Caesars is on the hook for even more investment dollars. New Jersey gaming regulators in 2020 signed off on Eldorado Resorts’ acquisition of the former Caesars organization for $17.3 billion. But the deal was made on the condition that the subsequent Caesars Entertainment spend some cash to revitalize its three aging Atlantic City casinos.

The mandatory investment price was set at $400 million. Caesars says some of that money will be used to place a Nobu Hotel inside Caesars Atlantic City. The hotel offering is slated to open next summer.

Our relationship with Nobu has been an unparalleled success in Las Vegas, and as we continue to invest there and in New Orleans and Atlantic City, we felt it was the perfect opportunity to deepen and expand that relationship,” said Caesars Entertainment CEO Tom Reeg.

Caesars added that the renovation of the Nobu Hotel Las Vegas inside Caesars Palace will include refurbishing all 182 guestrooms and suites. Caesars did not detail the number of rooms expected at the forthcoming Nobu hotels in Atlantic City and New Orleans.

Nobu Deep Casino Ties

Nobu’s ongoing relationship with Caesars Entertainment isn’t the hospitality company’s only involvement with the global gaming industry. In 2015, Australian billionaire James Packer, through his casino empire Crown Resorts, acquired a 20 percent ownership stake in Nobu in exchange for $100 million.   

Packer has long yearned to rub shoulders with Hollywood’s elite. After acquiring the Nobu position, Packer hosted a star-studded press event that featured, along with De Niro, A-listers Leonardo DiCaprio and famed director Martin Scorsese.

Packer has since departed Crown as its chairman and CEO, but the embattled casino tycoon retains a 37 percent stake in the company. Packer has suffered from mental illnesses in recent years. He confirmed last year that he has bipolar disorder.