Qualla: Grand Sierra Resort https://qualla.com/grand-sierra-resort en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:03 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/4/b/grand-sierra-resort-wp/truckee-river-and-grand-sierra.jpg Qualla: Grand Sierra Resort https://qualla.com/grand-sierra-resort Grand Sierra Resort: Introduction https://qualla.com/grand-sierra-resort/ Photo credit Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. Four names hang in the memory of this 27-story tower on the eastern edge of Reno: MGM Grand, Bally's, Reno Hilton, Grand Sierra Resort. Each represents a corporate gamble that failed, a chapter in a nearly fifty-year saga of boom, bust, and reinvention. When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer broke ground in 1976 on what was then a gravel pit between Mill and 2nd Streets, they envisioned a flagship to rival their legendary Las Vegas property. What they built instead became Northern Nevada's most spectacular example of corporate musical chairs.

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Image: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/4/b/grand-sierra-resort-wp/9r4b-grand-sierra-resort-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Grand Sierra Resort: A Studio's Desert Dream https://qualla.com/grand-sierra-resort/ Photo credit Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. The movie studio that gave the world Ben-Hur and The Wizard of Oz wanted Reno. MGM scouted locations in 1975, purchased the gravel pit, and fast-tracked a 26-story, 1,015-room tower that opened with media fanfare on May 3, 1978. Among its opening attractions: a $2 million, 2,000-...

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Image: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/4/b/grand-sierra-resort-wp/9r4b-grand-sierra-resort-a-studios-desert-dream.mp3 0:06 2 full Grand Sierra Resort: The Revolving Door of Ownership https://qualla.com/grand-sierra-resort/ Photo credit Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. Bally Manufacturing paid over $550 million for MGM's gaming properties in 1986, inheriting a property that had just added a 900-room expansion. But Bally's brought debt, not dreams. By 1990, the company struggled under $1.8 billion in obligations. When Bally filed for bankruptcy ...

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Image: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/4/b/grand-sierra-resort-wp/9r4b-grand-sierra-resort-the-revolving-door-of-ownership.mp3 0:06 3 full Grand Sierra Resort: Foreclosure and Rebirth https://qualla.com/grand-sierra-resort/ Photo credit Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Grand Sierra Resort Corp paid $151 million in 2006 and immediately began transforming the property, spending nearly $100 million on renovations including hotel-condos called The Summit on floors 17 through 27. Then came October 2008 and the financial crisis. The ownership gro...

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Image: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/4/b/grand-sierra-resort-wp/9r4b-grand-sierra-resort-foreclosure-and-rebirth.mp3 0:06 4 full Grand Sierra Resort: Hello Hollywood Goodbye https://qualla.com/grand-sierra-resort/ Photo credit Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. For eleven years, the Donn Arden production Hello Hollywood Hello dazzled audiences in the resort's Grand Theatre, a 2,995-seat venue built around what remains the world's largest indoor stage, spanning more than a full acre. Over seven million people watched the show before Ball...

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Image: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/4/b/grand-sierra-resort-wp/9r4b-grand-sierra-resort-hello-hollywood-goodbye.mp3 0:06 5 full Grand Sierra Resort: The Biggest Little Casino Floor https://qualla.com/grand-sierra-resort/ Photo credit Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Grand Sierra now boasts the largest casino floor in Reno and Northern Nevada: over 80,000 square feet of slots, video poker, and table games. A $1 billion expansion announced in September 2023 promises an 800-room tower, 300 workforce housing units, and a 10,000-seat arena se...

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Image: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/r/4/b/grand-sierra-resort-wp/9r4b-grand-sierra-resort-the-biggest-little-casino-floor.mp3 0:06 6 full