One of our readers, Tony, reminded me recently of a column I wrote way back in 2003. In it, I predicted what Las Vegas would look like in 2007. As a part of our ongoing 10th anniversary series I thought it would be fun to look back at what I thought the city would be like to see how close I was and in part 2 (below) I'll take a look out into the future again.

Here are the predictions from the August 2003 story as they were printed with a reality check for each one:

Prediction:
Wynn Las Vegas will be the big success story of the decade, a super-luxurious concept from Steve Wynn that surprised just about everyone for how much of a hit it was. After it’s opening in 2005 the crowds (and the cash) poured in to get a look at the first new mega-resort in years and Wynn quickly announced details of the second of three hotels that will ultimately occupy the former Desert Inn site. Construction is already underway on hotel number two with 2010 expected as an opening date.

Reality:
I was really close on this one. Wynn has been the most successful new casino hotel of the decade and before it even opened Steve Wynn had announced Encore, a second hotel to be built right next door. The only thing I got wrong was the timetable - instead of opening in 2010, Encore will open later this year.

Prediction:
The success of Wynn Las Vegas caused a tidal wave of development on the north end of The Strip. Three of the classic Vegas resorts that lined that end of Las Vegas Boulevard are long gone now with the implosions of the New Frontier, The Riviera, and The Stardust. Massive new mega-resorts are going up in their place along with new development on the former Wet n’ Wild and El Rancho sites. As many as five new hotels, including San Francisco and London themed resorts, are expected to open within the next two years, all within a mile of each other.

Reality:
I got a lot of this one right also. The Frontier and Stardust are gone and there are massive new resorts going up in their place (The Plaza and Echelon respectively). Ditto for the old El Rancho where Fontainebleau is under construction. But the Riviera soldiers on and despite many attempts to build something on the land, the Wet n Wild site still sits there rotting in the sun. And of course the city-based theme architecture craze faded long ago so all of the new hotels will be more generically styled.

Prediction:
Back in ’04, The Sahara got a big boost from the monorail that opened, linking it to the south end of The Strip. To remain competitive, The Sahara is undergoing a major remodeling and expansion hoping to capitalize on the increase in traffic expected as the monorail opens to Downtown Las Vegas this year.

Reality:
I got this one partially right but for totally incorrect reasons. The Sahara will undergo a massive makeover after a big ownership change but it has nothing to do with the monorail, which wasn't the boon it was expected to be for hotels like this. And the Downtown line for the monorail didn't happen and probably never will.

Prediction:
Circus-Circus is also upgrading their offerings, attempting to solidify their hold on the family market. But that’s not the only action happening from parent company Mandalay Resorts. The fourth hotel in the Mandalay Mile, a stretch of hotels including Excalibur, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay is expected to open next year. It is being constructed just south of Mandalay Bay and will be connected to all of its sister hotels by a guided tramway system.

Reality:
Circus-Circus hasn't gotten its extreme makeover yet but it should in the next few years. As far as the 4th hotel for the Mandalay Mile, all that fell into the dustbin of big ideas when Mandalay Resorts was purchased by MGM Mirage a few years ago.

Prediction:
Just across the street, work is progressing nicely on the first of two new hotels that are replacing the Tropicana, which they tore down in 2004. This new hotel, expected to open sometime this year, will be about the same size as the old Tropicana but when the second hotel opens in a couple of years the property will feature more than 4,000 rooms.

Reality:
Yeah, well. You can't win them all. The Tropicana is still there unchanged and plans to replace or remodel it have been put on hold indefinitely.

Prediction:
The last, and probably most significant, major development on The Strip is going on next door to Bellagio, where MGM Mirage is building another mega-resort on the land formerly occupied by the Boardwalk Hotel. The 55-acre site will feature a gigantic hotel/casino concept that will be designed to appeal to a younger, more hip crowd like those who usually go to places like Hard Rock and The Palms.

Reality:
Check this one in the correct column. The development is CityCenter, an $11 billion complex of hotels, entertainment, casino, shopping, and residential offerings. It's set to open in 2009 and will aim for a younger, more hip market.

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Before we begin I want to stress that these are just predictions based partially on things that have already been announced but mostly on rumor, conjecture, and speculation. In other words, this is just for fun and I don't know anything for sure so don't take it too seriously.

2008 and 2009 were rough years for Las Vegas due to the troubled US economy but the city bounced back like it always has and things are going like gangbusters up and down The Strip in 2013.

The Plaza hotel is the newest showplace on The Strip, opening this year. It's a dramatic homage to the famed New York hotel of the same name owned by an Israeli company that is already looking into what they'll do next. Word is they are eyeing one of the older hotels on The Strip for possible redevelopment.

The other mega-mega-resorts that opened in the last couple of years are also doing well. CityCenter has been around for 4 years now and it continues to draw big crowds to its gleaming glass and steel edifices. Echelon, the hotel complex that replaced the Stardust, opened later than expected but is making up for lost time in a big way.

Encore was such a hit for Wynn Las Vegas when it opened in late 2008 that the ribbon had barely been cut before owner Steve Wynn announced his next big project - a luxury non-gaming hotel that would anchor a massive new convention center. It is expected to open next year.

Several other big hotel-casinos opened on The Strip in the last couple of years and most did okay but there was that one rather public bankruptcy that shall go unmentioned. It was the biggest in Nevada history but the hotel in question has new owners now and all should be fine.

Construction projects currently underway include the replacement for The Riviera, which was torn down in 2010 and for The Tropicana, which bit the dust finally in 2011. The hotels that will go in their stead will be aimed more toward the middle income market, a crowd that has been steadily ignored over the last decade or so in Las Vegas. Alas, no “theme” hotels though. That trend never came back.

We're seeing a lot of cranes on the far North end of The Strip as the next big development from MGM Mirage gets underway across the street from The Sahara. It includes a makeover of Circus Circus, several new hotels wholly owned by the company, and a partnership on another big casino-hotel with the South African company that owns Paradise in the Bahamas.

And of course, the biggest venture on The Strip is the master plan for the Caesars Entertainment family of hotels including Caesars, Harrah's, Flamingo, Bally's, Paris, Rio, and Imperial Palace. The multi-billion plan saw the implosion of two of those hotels with two going up in their place and massive makeovers for a couple others. They will all be linked by a new people mover system. All of that started in earnest in 2011 and should be complete by 2015.

But the biggest shocker surrounds that hotel that closed in 2011 and was imploded in 2012. Who would've thought that a massive Las Vegas casino-hotel that opened in the early '90s would be gone so quickly?

I’ll see you in 2013 to see if any of this is right.

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