Exclusive: Las Vegas Monorail To Expand from MGM Grand to Mandalay Bay

A major, "high impact" proposal will further secure MGM Resorts International’s dominance on the southern end of the Strip and help drop off tens of thousands of new customers and conventioneers right into laps of the Mandalay Bay dining scene.

Yet to be announced, but on its way through the Clark County approval process, the proposal will extend the 3.9-mile Las Vegas Monorail from its current final stop at the MGM Grand and extend it one mile, flying over the Strip and into the parking lot behind the Luxor resort. The track would rise over the existing north-south "people-mover" that connects the Luxor to the Excalibur and Mandalay Bay.

A new 10,000-square-foot station will be accessed via the Shoppes at Mandalay Place, home to restaurants including Hussong's Cantina, Hubert Keller’s Burger Bar and Rick Moonen's RM Seafood and RX Boiler Room. It is not known if the remodel would cause the relocation of any dining or retail tenants.

The destination was strategically chosen to significantly increase ridership on the Monorail, specifically targeting the Mandalay Bay convention centers and linking them to the rest of the Strip. The seven-stop route debuted in 2004, running as far as SLS Las Vegas to the north, as fast as 50 mph at cruising speed. Trains depart every five to eight minutes.

While the station will sit in the Luxor's parking lot, any lost space will be filled by the also previously unreported, 3,241-capacity, eight- or nine-level parking garage readying to replace the existing Excalibur parking footprint and designed to serve the T-Mobile Arena across Tropicana Avenue. Planning permission for that upgrade was granted back in the spring.

If approved, the Monorail expansion is expected to finish financing and commence construction during the second quarter of 2017. There was no hint within the paperwork of any future extensions downtown, or a once-promised "phase three" stretch of track reaching all the way to McCarran International Airport.