Station Casinos planning new-look Wildfire in downtown Las Vegas

A new Wildfire Casino with an updated look and feel is expected to open in early February — the brand’s changes are already visible on the sign featuring new branding, hung at the construction site of the east Fremont location on Tuesday.

Station Casinos operates seven Wildfire-branded casino locations in addition to Red Rock Resort and other hotel-casinos. The Wildfire on Rancho Drive near Lake Mead Boulevard boasts 150 slot machines, a restaurant and a “no-fuss Vegas sports book that still brings its A-game.”

The Fremont location, however, will be updated with “new creature comforts,” including 200 slot machines, bar-top and electronic table games, a full-service STN Sportsbook, 16 TVs around the bar, an IHOP and local Mexican restaurant Tacos El Pastor.

“The brand has been idle for a little while with the look and feel and we wanted to give the guests a new, elevated experience from what they were used to,” Joel Hampe, general manager and vice president of Wildfire Gaming, said.

Hampe said part of that includes the brand recognition gained from the food partners and the Station Casinos’ Boarding Pass loyalty program.

The building’s 21,000-square feet of construction comes as more changes are made in the east Las Vegas neighborhood. Station bought the former Castaways site in 2004 and ultimately demolished the hotel. It sold some of the land to developers who built a 344-unit apartment complex, a mini-storage facility and a building that the Southern Nevada Health District plans to occupy.

“Station has had the land for quite some time,” Hampe said. “We continually evaluate what we have going on, where we’re building and where our plans are going to go. With the apartments being built and all the businesses that are increasing over there, we thought it was a good time that we wanted to join in and continue to make those improvements to that neighborhood.”

Wildfire plans to hire about 45 full- and part-time positions for the east Fremont location, at 2700 Fremont St., in December.

Station Casinos’ has one other under-construction project, the Durango hotel-casino in the southwest valley. It’s expected to open in fall 2023.

McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.