SEPTEMBER 2019 businesstravelerusa.com42
DESTINATIONS
museum and you can still see the neon – but mostly in the “boneyard”
setting north of town. Rather, new “wows” are on the way for leisure
visitor and business traveler alike.
The city recently opened Area 15, a mega-space of retail, dining and
event settings in an area west of the Strip. The entire 126,000 square
foot structure is the brainchild of anchor tenant Meow Wolf and is
given to total customization for gatherings, entertainment and experi-
mental art works with an eye for Instagrammable buzz.
Then, in a location near the Sands exhibition halls, The Sphere is
in progress. That project, a partnership between Sands Corp. and
Madison Square Garden Company, will be nothing short of dazzling
with an 18,000-seat, futuristic-looking facility encased in a massive
LED shell capable of shape-shifting into a globe or a tennis ball or any
event symbol in concert with what’s happening inside.
The Sphere’s 170,000-square-foot LED exterior screen will be
visible for miles. Massive interior screens, interior audio and olfaction
technolog y will keep the special EFX coming as will haptic flooring
systems that will create vibrations to match the moment.HOSPITALITY RISING
Topping the list of new hotels is The Drew, taking up the ghostly
tower that was the Fontainebleau Las Vegas before the 2008 recession
brought the city to a halt.
The Drew, a resort development of nearly 4,000 rooms by Marriott
International and real estate mogul Steve Witkoff, will become the
Strip’s first JW Marriott in 2020. The 68-story indigo-hued glass tow-
er located near the SLS (now The Sahara) and Circus Circus will offer
500,000 square feet of meeting, events, entertainment and convention
space, a retail complex, two dozen restaurants and lounges, and an
eight-acre pool deck.
That mid-strip area, currently empty fields and strip malls, will be
seeing the lion’s share of hotel development over the next three years.
Another planned mega-project that has been delayed by years and a
succession of owners is Resorts World Las Vegas, slated to cater to Sin
City's Chinese and Chinese-American tourists.
Although that concept recently failed with the closing of the Lucky
Dragon hotel and casino nearby, plans for the 3,000-room resort are
a go. The $4 to $7 billion project sits on the 86-acre lot that was once
the Stardust Hotel and casino. It was slated to become the Echelon in
2008 but was sold by Boyd Gaming to Malaysia’s Genting Group in- A 2020 completion date is
set, though some speculate that
US trade tariff issues with China
could once again steer the project
off course.
Meanwhile, Downtown Las
Vegas will be getting a boost from
Circa. The $1 billion, 777-room
new build is slated to open in
December 2020 and, at 44 stories,
the property stands to become
the tallest Las Vegas hotel north
of the Strip. It will contain the
longest outdoor bar on Fremont
Street, along with five restaurants and
a bi-level casino.
Another hotel, The A.C. by Marriott, is
in the design process for a $95 million, 406-
room, six-story hotel to be built near the Down-
town area in a complex that currently features a grand symphony hall,
a professional fashion and furniture design mart, name-brand medical
facilities (Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, and Cleveland Clinic),
a $90 million, 315,000-square-foot expo venue, and one of the city’s
most popular discount designer shopping complexes. An opening date
for the new hotel and the expo space aims at the summer of 2020.
And as hotels and attractions open, the city is bringing in new
business development with attractive incentives and plenty of space
to build. A new $600 million Google data center will be opening in
nearby Henderson in December 2020, as an example. And with the
growth in convention bookings and the new sports buzz that is light-
ing up the city, Las Vegas is well prepared to grow with the times.
“Certainly, our new 65,000-seat stadium, which will be the home to
the NFL’s Raiders franchise, is creating quite the buzz for Las Vegas.
These developments also appeal to meeting and convention groups as
there are many opportunities to attend events or viewing parties, tour
state-of-the art facilities, and engage with athletes and professionals
while in the destination,” says Schreiber.
“If you haven’t been to Las Vegas recently, you’ll be astounded,” he
adds. “There are currently nearly $18 billion in investment projects
planned through 2022, and there is always room for more.” BT^
RIGHT: Lip Smacking
Foodie Tours; Neon
Museum“If you can dream
it, Las Vegas can
make it happen. The
opportunities are
endless”