Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

April 22, 2008

Wynn Resorts Puts Las Vegas Sands In Cross Hairs

Posted by Hunter

On the most recent episode of The Strip Podcast, Steve Wynn talks about his ultimate plans for the golf course - two new hotels for a total of 10,000 rooms (including WLV and Encore) and a 1.5 million square foot convention facility.

Clearly, this would put Wynn Resorts in direct competition with the various other convention centers in town, most specifically Las Vegas Sands and their Sands Expo. No specific timeline was given for the development.


Categories: Business of Gaming, Las Vegas Strip, Wynn Resorts
Tags: lasvegas, stevefriess, strippodcast, vegas, wynn, wynnlasvegas


Comments

Read archived comments (9 so far)
April 23, 2008 12:51 AM Posted by mike_ch

Is this final?

I keep thinking Wynn is waiting for Elad to fall through on the Plaza, so that either he or Trump can buy the property. I thought they could build a decent east-west Fremont Street style walking street through the Frontier property and between Wynn and Encore (well, at least before Encore got really built up around the current garage) or perhaps under those, then through the middle of the golf course. Basically, you'd have a second, smaller strip anchored with Trump at one end and the convention center on the other, and you could build boutique hotels and one or two more Wynn/Encore sized towers along the way.

This plan is interesting, though not nearly as ambitious as what Wynn had been dreaming of before. They are essentially getting into the convention business now, and I wonder if Wynn Resorts will be playing politics against the LVCVA like Sands does as a result.

April 23, 2008 6:26 AM Posted by Brian Fey

Wow, another Wynn interview. This is like Christmas all over again! I have not checked this out, but I will tonight. I never really saw Wynn in the major convention center business, and I feel like there is already a glut of these all over town. He'll just be building yet another, in the center of several. I suppose coming from Wynn, it will not be just any old convention center, so we will just have to wait and see, before we pass judgement. I do think that LVS closing their existing one, and moving it so far back, will be a disadvantage to them.

April 23, 2008 9:45 AM Posted by jshane

The Wynn web site has a map that displays how it is strategically located new the LV Convention Center and the Sands Convention Center.

It takes a few moments to load with the welcome to Wynnlasvegas
spiel.

http://www.wynnlasvegas.com/#About/location

April 23, 2008 12:13 PM Posted by detroit1051

I don't understand why I have to wait until Thursday to listen to the podcast, or am I missing something?
Hunter's report is a far cry from a WYNN conference call a year or so ago when Steve talked about the golf course being a beautiful park like area with boutique hotels on the perimeter. Reality does change dreams, doesn't it?
Two hotels with 10,000 total rooms? That doesn't sound like Steve, two MGM Grand's in his backyard.
The property is ideal for a convention center on the east, Paradise Road, side.

April 23, 2008 1:12 PM Posted by Hunter

The 10,000 includes WLV and Encore which have almost 5,000 rooms between them.

April 23, 2008 1:17 PM Posted by mike_ch

Detroit: I don't know why you have to wait until Thursday either, you just do. Might be SteveF's way of trying to get people to listen live and get in the chat rooms.

The 10,000 rooms figure includes Wynn and Encore, which are about 4750 rooms combined.

April 23, 2008 1:57 PM Posted by detroit1051

"The 10,000 includes WLV and Encore which have almost 5,000 rooms between them."
Ahhh! That sounds better. Two more manageable hotels will let Steve control quality.

April 24, 2008 12:24 AM Posted by Mike E

Can't say I'm too excited. Like what Detroit was referring to, I was more looking forward to something along the lines of three hotels at around 600 rooms each. After listening to the podcast, at least I'm assured there'll still be a lake, but why all the meeting rooms and convention space?

Wynn has critiqued Adelson on more than one occasion saying that The Venetian lacks balance because of too much convention space. I couldn't agree more. Quickest way to kill the vibe of a place: overload it with convention goers. When people in a resort on business start to outnumber people on real vacations, the place becomes about as exciting and vibrant as a local's joint. Also, WLV struck a nice balance between what's available to the passerby and what a guest can appreciate with its restaurants, etc. I guess I'm not too thrilled to read that convention goers will get the most out of the lake attraction (at least that's what it sounds like anyway).

Is there a time line to Wynn's output? Will the golf course redevelopment happen before the "villa hotel" on Cotai or afterwards?

April 24, 2008 5:01 AM Posted by detroit1051

Mike, I think we'll get answers to a lot of our questons during next week's quarterly conference call. Steve's comments to The Strip Podcast are sure to generate questions by the analysts.
http://biz.yahoo.com/cc/3/92613.html