GRAND ONCE AGAIN Casino reopens at 9 tonight

BILOXI -- The long hallways, purple-patterned carpet and pot-of-gold logos are gone.

The new Grand Casino Biloxi offers direct access to its gambling floor from the third level of its parking garage. The decor is rich and warm with cherry woods and amber hues. There's a modernist feel to the whole place, especially L.B.'s Steakhouse, where stone-clad walls and other design elements are reminiscent of a Frank Lloyd Wright creation.

"We did not want to be a facility that looked like it was rushed or put into place just to begin operations," said Anthony Sanfilippo, president of the central division for Harrah's Entertainment, the casino's parent company.

The casino reopens to the public at 9 tonight. It has more than 800 slot machines and 28 table games. The high-limits area has 75 slot machines and three blackjack tables where the bets start at $25 a hand. Karen Sock, the casino's general manager, said the 1,500 employees are ready for whatever the night brings.

The hotel has more than 500 rooms with plasma televisions, a 16,000-square-foot spa and three restaurants. The Grand Buffet will serve food from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. weekends. Its Asian cafe will be open 24 hours and provide take-out orders.

The menu at L.B.'s Steakhouse has favorites from before, along with new offerings like Gulf shrimp with stone-ground grits. And a 24-hour Starbucks will offer a full menu associated with the cafe.

Although this casino resort is smaller than either of the Grands that operated in Biloxi or Gulfport before Hurricane Katrina, Sanfilippo said Harrah's has no plans to demolish it for anything bigger as the company expands its presence here. Harrah's is buying the Casino Magic Biloxi property and hopes to purchase other parcels adjacent to and near its casino.

Harrah's may bring other casino brands to Biloxi, such as Horseshoe, Rio or Harrah's, as the company expands its footprint, he said.

Asked if Harrah's was planning to put two or three casinos in the city, he replied: "Could be. We haven't come to that conclusion yet."

Sanfilippo declined to reveal how much Harrah's has invested to reopen the casino, but said it was designed for the comfort and convenience of their guests.

Harrah's hired Marnell Corrao Associates of Las Vegas to convert the convention space into a casino and transform other common areas. A New Orleans design firm, Montgomery Roth, was given the responsibility of revamping the hotel rooms and updating the spa.

Bryan Taylor, the lead designer on the Biloxi project for Marnell Corrao, said he wanted to create a haven.

"In the wake of destruction of Hurricane Katrina, we wanted to create a space that gave the customer a sense of warmth, a sense of comfort and a sense of belonging," Taylor said. "We did it in a little more of a modernist fashion."

Sanfilippo and Thomas O'Donnell, regional president of Harrah's for the Gulf Coast region, spent Wednesday meeting and greeting employees, including a 4 p.m. pep rally at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.

O'Donnell said the goal was to create something uplifting with a permanent feel, given all that was lost to Hurricane Katrina.

"We wanted it to look like it was built from the ground up and not retro-fitted," he said.