[font=Verdana]Super Bowl Sunday was the last hurrah for the Pavilion of the Golden Nugget Las Vegas. By the following morning it was a-swarm with workers preparing for its demolition and eventual replacement as part of a $15 million expansion of the pool area at the downtown hotel-casino.

That new pool will have a shark tank at its center, one that guests can swim around or pass through on an elongated, enclosed water slide. Theoretically, the customers will be safe from the sharks -- and vice versa.

That is just one aspect of how the innards of the property are being scrambled by new owner, Landry's Restaurants, as part of a costly makeover. [/font]

[font=Verdana]The Nugget complex itself will expand out into part of [/font][font=Verdana]First Street[/font][font=Verdana], recently ceded by the city of [/font][font=Verdana]Las Vegas[/font][font=Verdana]. Although no plans have yet been filed with the city, the general concept calls for moving the facade of the casino several dozen feet northward, adding a nightclub on the mezzanine level, where First intersects with the Fremont Street Experience and enlarging the slot floor from 1,300 machines to 1,700.[/font]

[font=Verdana]The northwest hotel tower will be extended parallel to Fremont, including a second-floor multipurpose room for boxing matches and similar events. The elongated ground floor is tentatively slated to include a retail arcade, as well as one of Landry's Aquarium Restaurants. A floor-to-ceiling, L-shaped aquarium is planned to wrap around two sides of the eatery. The restaurant, like the mezzanine-level nightclub, is scheduled for a November debut, with hotel tower above it scheduled to open a year later.[/font]