Tuscany Suites and Casino - Inexpensive Off-Strip Hotel

The Tuscany Suites & Casino is a beautifully landscaped property with an outdoor pool and spa facilities and is less than a mile from the Las Vegas Strip.

All rooms at the Tuscany Suites & Casino have free cable TV, seating and dining areas, and a work desk. Guests will find refrigerators and coffee makers, as well as ironing facilities. Select rooms include separate showers and bathtubs.

Start your morning with a workout in their heated lap pool or relax with a cocktail in the Las Vegas sun by our gorgeous lagoon-style pool.

Along with the outdoor pool and hot tub, the hotel has a fitness center. Their Fitness Center features state-of-the-art cardiovascular equipment, treadmills, a new Smith machine, free weights, dumbbells, and much more!

A business center for guest use is available. The Casino at Tuscany Suites features more than 900 games including slots and table games. Parking is available onsite.

Guests can order cocktails by the pool and dance at the hotel’s Piazza Lounge. Other dining options include the Tuscany Gardens restaurant, The Cafe Bottega offers coffee daily. The Copa Room offers live music.

Easily reached just a mile from Interstate 15, the Tuscany Suites & Casino is 2 miles from McCarran International Airport. The campus of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas is one mile away.

Interesting History of the Tuscany Suites

In 1988, Charles M. Heers purchased 17.5 acres from the Howard Hughes estate and later purchased an additional 10 acres. Heers’ family also owned the Vacation Village hotel and casino. For over a decade, a life-sized ship advertised Heers’ plans for the Caribbean resort, which never materialized because of high costs.

As early as 1997, Heers approached Gary Ellis, owner of the nearby Ellis Island Casino & Brewery, about the possibility of assuming or managing operations of the hotel casino that was planned for the property.

Construction on the 716-room Italian-themed Tuscany hotel began in January 2001, with a planned opening later that summer. At that time, an additional 306 rooms and a casino were planned to open in fall 2001, with the casino planned to be managed by the Ellis Island casino. The all-suite Tuscany hotel opened in December 2001. Inland Empire Builders developed the Tuscany Suites.

In August 2002, the casino’s opening was planned for November 2002. The 60,000 square-foot casino ultimately had a soft opening on January 17, 2003, with 800 slot machines, and eight table games. An official grand opening was planned within one or two months, after the completion of a 40,000 square-foot convention center. The casino was expected to boost the hotel’s occupancy.

The Tuscany cost $100 million to build and was owned by Heers and Arizona contractor Gaylord Yost, as well as Heers’ company, CMH Real Estate Development Inc., which also operated three Las Vegas-area apartment complexes. Tuscany had hoped to primarily attract a clientele of tourists and local residents, as well as employees from larger resorts on the Las Vegas Strip.

The Plan to Combine with Ellis Island

Negotiations with Gary Ellis began in January 2004, to combine the operations of Ellis Island and Tuscany. In April 2004, Ellis agreed to invest in Tuscany for joint ownership and the management of its casino.

At that time, Tuscany’s casino had not been attracting its targeted clientele, partially because of competition from Ellis Island. In June 2004, Heers suddenly abandoned the deal before it was to be finalized. He subsequently ceased contact with Ellis. The following month, Ellis filed a lawsuit against Heers, accusing him of breach of contract, fraud, and misappropriation of trade practices secrets.

According to Heers’ lawyer, Ellis changed the conditions of the deal, leading Heers to back out of it upon learning that Ellis planned to sell Ellis Island without combining the two properties into one company. – Source: Wikipedia