of a week. In 2017, two guests contracted Legionnaires' disease during separate stays at the Rio hotel. The property's water systems were disinfected upon the discovery of Legionella bacteria. Additional cases of Legionnaires' disease were diagnosed among Rio guests later that year, in addition to 56 suspected cases of Pontiac fever, also caused by Legionella. One of the infected guests sued Caesars Entertainment over the outbreak. As of 2019, Caesars had spent $600 million on renovations for various properties over the past five years, with the exception of the Rio, which now competed with older, low-budget resorts such as Circus Circus. Marnell, who was disappointed by the property's deterioration, speculated that it would need $300 million in renovations to be highly competitive once again. Dreamscape ownership (2019–present) In December 2019, Caesars sold the Rio for $516 million to New York-based real estate developer Eric Birnbaum. Under the deal, Caesars would continue to operate the Rio under lease for at least two years, paying $45 million a year in rent. The Rio is owned through Birnbaum's company, Dreamscape Companies LLC. His plans for a significant renovation were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the state-ordered closure of casinos in March 2020. The Rio partially reopened on December 22, 2020, but with hotel operations limited mostly to weekends. Full operations resumed four months later. It was the last Caesars property nationwide to reopen. Because of the pandemic, Caesars and Dreamscape extended their lease arrangement, allowing Caesars to potentially operate the property into late 2023. Dreamscape plans to take over casino operations eventually. In March 2021, Dreamscape announced a partnership with Hyatt, which would rebrand one of the hotel towers as a Hyatt Regency. The hotel is scheduled to open in 2023, with 1,501 rooms. The remaining rooms are also expected to be affiliated with Hyatt. The resort has 2,520 rooms, including the Palazzo Suites. Aside from the hotel portion, the property will maintain the Rio name and its theme. Because of his prior experience with the property, Marnell was hired as architect for the renovations, which are expected to begin in 2022. Features Restaurants The Rio was particularly well known for its restaurants, five of which were listed in a top-40 list by Zagat in the 1990s. Six new restaurants were added in 1997. Among them was Napa, which was overseen by chef Jean-Louis Palladin. The top of the