Feb. 24, 2011--Caesars Entertainment announced today that it is seeking funding to complete the unfinished Octavius Tower at Caesars Palace and to begin development on a retail and entertainment plaza on the Strip.

The company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it is seeking $400 million in financing to complete the projects.

Caesars Entertainment delayed the opening of the $1 billion, 660-room tower in January 2009, citing the strain the economic downturn had put on hotel demand in Las Vegas. The Octavius Tower was scheduled to open in summer 2009.

The resort did, however, open three, $40,000 per night pool villas last spring at the base of the tower.

The filing indicated that the $400 million in financing will also be used to develop what has be dubbed internally as "Project Linq," an area of bars, shops and restaurants between Flamingo and O'Shea's on the Strip.

Caesars Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman told Bloomberg in June that the company planned to build the project in 2011 and it would cost "a lot less" than the $1 billion project the company envisioned in 2006.

Renderings of the project in 2009 show the entertainment plaza running down the alley between the two casinos with a Ferris wheel at the end.

The filing did not list a completion date for the projects.

Caesars Entertainment is scheduled to report its fourth quarter earnings Friday.

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