On the horizon: A new
casino
for Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun,
part of the Project Horizon expansion
If there’s such a
thing as a sure bet in the gaming industry, investors seem
to believe it’s the profitability of combining upscale hotels and
resorts with casinos.
“There is an unusual flow of capital
into the gaming industry globally today,” says Eugene Christiansen,
CEO of New York City-based Christiansen Capital Advisors LLC.
Indeed, it’s an “unusual flow” to the tune of $50 billion of
development in Las Vegas and Macau alone.
Following is a roundup of development
news at different gaming destinations around the world as tracked
by M&C’s editors and contributors. Most of these
projects have been developed to cater to meeting groups.
Atlantic City
Long perceived as mostly geared toward
vacationers, Atlantic City is making great strides at welcoming
meeting planners. Six months ago, Trump Entertainment Resorts hired
Gregg Caren away from convention facility manager SMG with the goal
of bringing in more group business, which traditionally has been
“relegated to nonsummer, midweek” dates, Caren says. Now, however,
“we’ve pretty much kicked the door open to summer and weekend, much
like Vegas,” he adds.
Towering presence:
The Trump Taj Mahal is
adding an 800-room tower
to its Atlantic City property,
scheduled to open next fall.
Partly to make it more enticing for
planners to bring in business, the three Trump properties (Taj
Mahal, Marina, Plaza) are in the midst of a combined three-year,
$500 million renovation and expansion. Half of that is funding an
800-room tower at the Trump Taj Mahal, to open in
fall 2008.
The Puck stops here:
The Borgata in Atlantic City
has added a number of
new restaurants, including this
from Wolfgang Puck, and plans
to open an 800-room tower with
18,000 square feet of
meeting space next year.
The Borgata, the hotel
that more than any other has defined the future of Atlantic City,
completed last year an expansion of its amenities, adding more
space to the casino, retail and dining areas. Wolfgang Puck, Bobby
Flay and Michael Mina all opened restaurants there. Opening early
next year will be The Water Club at Borgata, a $400 million,
800-room tower with 18,000 square feet of meeting space along with
a 36,000-square-foot spa.
Not wanting to be left behind,
Harrah’s Atlantic City is adding a tower of its
own, with 964 rooms, bringing the total to 2,600. The tower opens
in mid-2008; in the meantime, opening this year at Harrah’s will be
a Red Door Spa with 24 treatment rooms.
As if all those towers weren’t enough,
three new casinos are on the drawing boards. To begin with,
Atlantic City-based freshman gaming company Revel Entertainment is
designing one that will be financed by Morgan Stanley, to go up
next to the Showboat casino (timeline still to come). Second, the
area just south of the Atlantic City Hilton, itself poised for a
major expansion, has been purchased by Wallace Barr, former CEO of
Caesars Entertainment, and Curtis Bashaw, former executive director
of the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.
The third project is a redevelopment of
the Sands Casino, which is now closed. Pinnacle Entertainment will
demolish the building and rebuild it from scratch, a process that
will take at least four or five years. Rumor has it that Steve Wynn
is considering building a casino in Atlantic City as well.
The 804-room Atlantic City
Hilton is charting a $1 billion expansion. A spokesperson
for the hotel declined to offer details of the project because, at
press time, the hotel’s owner, Los Angeles-based Colony Capital,
had not yet approved the plans. According to local news reports,
initial plans outline the addition of a 1,000-room tower and a
3,500-seat meeting room, and the doubling of the casino floor to
120,000 square feet.
The casinos, along with the Development
Authority, are funding an express New Jersey Transit train between
New York City and Atlantic City, which will make the trip in about
two and a half hours. The service is slated to begin later this
year.
Lastly, this gaming mecca is coming
into its own as a major shopping destination. Atlantic City
Outlets, The Walk, has proved so popular that The Cordish Company
is expanding the outdoor outlet mall by five blocks; the first of
about 40 stores opened earlier this year. Also, The Pier Shops at
Caesars, an impressive collection of luxury boutiques built on the
old Ocean One/Million Dollar Pier, debuted last year. Included are
a number of noteworthy restaurants by Philadelphia celebrity
restaurateur Stephen Starr. -- JONATHAN VATNER
AN INSIDER'S TAKE
Michael Goldsmith, right, director of convention sales for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, says there are two main trends to note in Las Vegas hospitality. The first is the slew of national and international name brands -- Four Seasons, Hyatt, JW Marriott, Loews, Mandarin Oriental, Ritz-Carlton, et al -- that are popping up on and around the Strip.
The second trend is the amount and quality of new nongaming facilities. Hotels without casinos are being added to existing resorts -- at the MGM Grand, for instance -- or constructed as stand-alone properties, such as the 1,104-room Pinnacle Las Vegas and the 1,282-room Trump International Hotel and Tower Las Vegas condo-hotel. One team of theme park veterans is even working on plan for a $1 billion destination resort with an indoor water park that will be marketed to families.
“The more properties there are, the more options there are, the better,” Goldsmith says.
Amid this construction boom, Goldsmith says the LVCVA wants to alter its market mix, with meetings representing 20 percent of hospitality business, up from around 15 percent. With 40,000 new hotel rooms due to open in the next few years, there’ll be plenty of places for groups to stay. -- T.I.
California
As the overall hospitality industry in
the greater Palm Springs region receives a boost from new
construction, including a slate of new hotels and renovations and
the recent expansion of the Palm Springs Convention Center, two
Native American tribes in the Coachella Valley are giving desert
gaming a shot in the arm.
The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla
Indians is building a $205 million, 340-room hotel next to the
45,000-square-foot Agua Caliente Casino, which
opened in 2001 on tribal land just outside Rancho Mirage and
currently is undergoing a renovation. The Tribe plans to open the
hotel next March.
The Agua Caliente Band also is making
plans to demolish the 228-room hotel at the Spa Resort
Casino in downtown Palm Springs and replace it with a
400-room hotel with an expanded casino. Although the tribe has yet
to nail down the details, it is looking to develop an entertainment
and commercial center north of the existing property that will
include a 120-room boutique hotel and 170,000 square feet of
restaurants, clubs, theaters and retail.
Desert dreaming:
The Twenty-Nine
Palms Band of
Mission Indians
plans to break ground
next year on a
200-room hotel and spa
at the existing Spotlight 29
Casino in Coachella, Calif.
Down the road, in Coachella, the
Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians broke ground in March on
a project to expand the Spotlight 29 Casino. The
plan includes a $100 million, 200-room hotel and spa with meeting
facilities, restaurants and other amenities, although specific
details have yet to be determined. A 1,245-space parking garage
currently is being erected at the site, and when it is complete
next spring, the tribe will break ground on the hotel. -- TOM
ISLER
Connecticut
Owners of southeastern Connecticut’s
two casino resorts are spending a combined $1.4 billion to expand
their properties, and the new facilities will alter how each does
business with groups.
Foxwoods Resort Casino
in Mashantucket, which is on track to open a
$700 million expansion next spring, is poised to become a major
player for convention business in the Northeast for the first time.
Currently, the resort has only 55,000 square feet of meeting space,
but when construction is complete next year, it will offer 170,000
square feet, including a new 50,000-square-foot, column-free
ballroom. Two other signature pieces of the expansion are a new
50,000-square-foot casino and the 824-room MGM Grand at Foxwoods, a
new hotel tower with a 21,000-square-foot spa, which will bring the
resort’s guest room total to more than 2,200.
Not to be outdone, rival
Mohegan Sun, in nearby Uncasville, countered last
November by announcing its own $740 million expansion, known as
Project Horizon. Plans don’t call for additional meeting space; the
complex already has more than 100,000 square feet. But the addition
of a 1,000-room hotel in 2010 not only will allow Mohegan Sun to
match Foxwoods’ 2,200 rooms, it finally will be able to dedicate
sizable room blocks to groups, even on weekends, which the hotel
currently can’t swing, due to high occupancy from leisure
travelers.
Mohegan Sun also has partnered with
House of Blues to brand a new 1,500-seat music hall and 300 of the
1,000 new hotel rooms, creating, in effect, a hotel within a hotel.
Plans also call for a new 64,000-square-foot casino and a plethora
of new restaurants and shopping opportunities. Construction starts
this summer, and the expansion will open in phases over the next
three years. A $13 million renovation of the current hotel tower
wraps up this month. -- T.I.
Detroit
The wait is almost over for hotel
accommodations and meeting space at Detroit’s three downtown
casinos, which heretofore have operated only as gaming venues. Each
casino is adding a 400-room hotel, with various amenities such as
restaurants and spas, and each is expanding its gaming floor to
100,000 square feet.
Rolling: The MotorCity
Casino in Detroit
plans to open its
400-room hotel tower
before the end of the year
The MotorCity Casino
expects to open its 400-room hotel tower this fall, part of a $275
million expansion and renovation project. The hotel will be
connected to the casino via an elevated walkway, as will the
property’s 67,000 square feet of meeting space, including a
1,200-seat theater, being constructed in a separate building.
The MGM Grand Detroit
is on track to open its hotel late this year as well. Tony Chi is
designing the hotel’s spa and restaurants, one of which will be a
Wolfgang Puck establishment. The hotel will have 30,000 square feet
of meeting space.
Adding rooms:
Detroit’s Greektown
Casino aims to open
a 400-room hotel
with 25,000 square feet
of meeting space
late next year.
Last but not least, the
Greektown Casino is targeting a fall 2008 opening
for its hotel, which will have 25,000 square feet of meeting
space. -- T.I.
SPOTLIGHT: SINGAPORE
If Macau is the established chip leader in high-end Asian gaming, Singapore is quietly adding to its short stack.
Singapore relaxed a ban on gaming in 2005, and Las Vegas Sands Corp. now is constructing a US$3.6 billion casino resort on the bay. The Marina Bay Sands, to open in 2009, will include three 50-story hotel towers, totaling more than 2,500 rooms and suites, all topped by a continuous, two-acre Sky Park Garden with jogging paths, pools, spas and gardens. The resort will have a 1 million-square-foot convention center, a 3,000-seat amphitheater, two 2,000-seat theaters and a waterfront promenade, with retail and restaurant options and an ArtScience Museum.
Marina Bay itself will be dammed and converted into a fresh-water reservoir that will support various water sports.
A separate US$3.1 billion development, Resorts World at Sentosa, expected to open in 2010, will include 1,830 hotel rooms spread across six hotels, including a Hard Rock Hotel; a luxury spa; meeting facilities for up to 12,000 attendees; a casino; an Equarius Water Park; a Quest Marine Life Park that will support 700,000 aquatic animals in the world’s largest oceanarium, and Universal Studios Singapore.
By 2010, Singapore officials expect to have 10,000 hotel rooms within walking distance of Suntec Singapore, the city’s convention center. -- T.I.
On the rise:Resorts World
at Sentosa will include
six hotels and multiple attractions.
New player: The Marina Bay Sands
will open in 2009 with 2,500 guest rooms and a convention center. Indiana
The French Lick Springs
Resort in French Lick, Ind., reopened last November
following a $382 million restoration. The historic resort features
two hotels: the 443-room French Lick Springs Hotel, connected to
the 84,000-square-foot casino, and the 246-room West Baden Springs
Hotel, which officially emerges from its restoration this month.
The resort has 30,000 square feet of meeting space, plus a
31,600-square-foot tennis and exhibition center. Guests also can
enjoy the resort’s two full-service spas as well as facilities for
bowling, tennis and horseback riding. When an 18-hole golf course
designed by Pete Dye opens next spring, the resort will offer a
total of 45 holes on three courses. -- T.I.
Las Vegas
Approximately $30 billion worth of
development has been approved or is actively under way for Las
Vegas (another $15 billion worth is being proposed), and the number
of hotel rooms in the city will expand to more than 170,000 by
2010, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
The amount of available convention space will increase by nearly
3.5 million square feet over the next three to four years.
Andrew Zarnett, managing director,
gaming and lodging, for Deutsche Bank Securities in New York City,
likens this wave of construction to that of a decade ago, when the
Bellagio, Mandalay Bay and Venetian properties were built. But this
time, he says, more dollars are being invested, and the number of
guest rooms coming on board is more than double the number created
in the late 1990s.
Perhaps the most significant new
project is MGM Mirage’s $7.4 billion CityCenter,
under construction between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts.
Essentially, the 76-acre development is its own small city, with
two 400-room hotels -- the first Mandarin Oriental in Las Vegas and
The Harmon, a condo-hotel -- 300,000 square feet of meeting space,
2,700 residences and 470,000 square feet of retail and
entertainment space. MGM Mirage has announced it’s pursuing LEED
(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from
the U.S. Green Building Council for the project, which should be
open for business in late 2009.
City on a strip:
MGM Mirage’s
massive $7.4 billion
CityCenter project
is well under way
and should be open
with two hotels in 2009.
Boyd Gaming Corp. imploded the Stardust
Resort and Casino in March to make way for Echelon
Place, a $4 billion mixed-use development that will
feature a new convention center and four hotels: the 3,300-room
Echelon Resort, 1,000-room Mondrian, 400-room Shangri-La and
600-room Delano. Plans call for a total of 350,000 square feet of
meeting space at the hotels and the Las Vegas ExpoCenter, plus four
spas, 140,000 square feet of gaming space, two theaters with 1,500
and 4,000 seats, and 350,000 square feet of retail space.
Groundbreaking is set for June 19, and the resort is targeting a
late 2010 opening.
The owners of New York City’s Plaza
Hotel, the Elad Group, announced in May plans to build a $5 billion
development on the site now occupied by the New Frontier Hotel
& Casino, which will be demolished. Construction on The
Plaza in Las Vegas, which will include a 3,500-room hotel,
a conference center, a casino and more, is expected to begin next
year.
The $2 billion Cosmopolitan
Resort & Casino, set to open in 2010, will add another
2,998 guest rooms to the city, as contained in the new Grand Hyatt
Las Vegas, and 150,000 square feet of meeting space, including a
40,000-square-foot ballroom. A connected five-acre Cosmo Beach Club
features a 50,000-square-foot spa and 80,000 square feet of casino
space.
The 3,025-suite Palazzo Casino
Resort, a hotel tower opening later this year at the
Venetian, will give the entire property a
mind-boggling total of 7,052 guest rooms. The Palazzo will have 375
concierge-level suites, plus six villas with three or four bedrooms
each, private pools and spas, personal gym facilities and other
amenities. The Venetian currently is conducting a $100 million
renovation of more than 3,000 of its existing suites, to be
finished this fall.
To avoid becoming a relatively small
hotel, the 2,726-room Wynn Las Vegas will open a
2,000-room expansion next year with 30,000 square feet of new
meeting space.
No more magic carpet:
The former Aladdin Hotel
& Casino officially opened
as the Planet Hollywood
Resort & Casino in April,
as major renovations continue.
The 2,567-room Planet Hollywood
Resort & Casino, formerly the Aladdin Hotel &
Casino, opened in April even as a $1 billion transformation
continues. The property has 75,000 square feet of meeting space and
a 114,000-square-foot casino, as well as a Planet Hollywood Towers
by Westgate condominium complex, which brings the rental pool to
3,767 rooms. The hotel will open officially this fall.
The $1 billion, 2,300-room
Maxim Hotel-Casino, due to open in 2009, will have
a 60,000-square-foot casino, a spa, multiple concert spaces and a
yet unspecified amount of meeting space.
The Fontainebleau Las
Vegas, a $2.8 billion, 3,889-room hotel-
casino, is under construction and slated to open in 2009. The
property will have a 100,000-square-foot casino, plus a spa and
275,000 square feet of meeting space.
Jumping
in:Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas,
which currently has just 8,000 square feet of meeting space, will
add 60,000 square feet of space by 2009.
Proving it still is possible to build
or enhance a Las Vegas hotel property for less than $1 billion, the
owners of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las
Vegas are planning a $750 million renovation and expansion
that will dramatically increase the hotel’s meeting space from
8,000 to 68,000 square feet while adding 950 guest rooms, a new spa
and health club, a live entertainment venue and a
35,000-square-foot casino. Renovations are due to wrap up early
next year, and the additions should be finished in mid-2009.
Tall order:
The third and final
hotel tower opens
next month at
The Signature at
MGM Grand
in Las Vegas.
The third and final 576-room hotel
tower opens next month at The Signature at MGM
Grand, a smoke-free, non-gaming hotel within the MGM Grand
complex. Each tower has its own lobby, check-in, business center
and pools. Including the three new Signature towers, the MGM Grand
complex will offer 5,620 guest rooms.
Pretty in pink:
The Flamingo Las Vegas
is adding panache to
500 of its guest rooms
with a new design
and high-tech amenities.
The transformation of 500 guest rooms
at the 3,565-room Flamingo Las Vegas into
specially branded “GO Rooms” should be completed this fall. GO
Rooms are characterized by flashy decor, designed by Las
Vegas-based interior design firm Cagley & Tanner, and high-tech
amenities that include Denon sound systems and remote-control
blinds. The Flamingo has 73,000 square feet of meeting space and a
77,000-square-foot casino.
Early next year, the 800-room
Palms Casino Resort will open a new 599-room
condo-hotel and spa, Palms Place, connected to the main resort. In
April of this year, the resort officially opened the Pearl Concert
Theater, an entertainment venue that can hold up to 2,500 people
and which doubles as a meetings venue that can be scaled down to
hold 1,100. The theater is connected to 10,000 square feet of new
meeting space as well as to the resort’s recording studio, giving
groups the opportunity to make recordings of keynote sessions or
other events with the resort’s built-in technology.
Construction is under way on
The M Resort, an 80-acre mixed-use development on
Las Vegas Boulevard. The first phase of the development, expected
to cost
$700 million, will include 400 hotel rooms and suites, a
100,000-square-foot casino, a 70,000-square-foot events center and
a spa, plus dining and retail options. MGM Mirage is investing
approximately $160 million in the project.
The 2,444-room Stratosphere Las
Vegas, along with 17 acres of surrounding land and three
other casinos in Nevada and Arizona, have been sold by a subsidiary
of Carl Icahn’s New York City-based American Real Estate Partners
to an affiliate of New York City-based Goldman Sachs for $1.3
billion.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
and local developer Edge Group have canceled plans to build a
2,000-room W Las Vegas. In a statement released
last month, Edge Group said the company “could not overcome
numerous significant challenges.”
One developing story to watch is the
buyout of Las Vegas-based Harrah’s Entertainment by two private
equity firms -- New York City-based Apollo Management Group, and
Fort Worth, Texas-based Texas Pacific Group -- for $17 billion.
State regulatory bodies still need to sign off on the acquisition
before it becomes official, which could happen this fall. The
effects that Harrah’s privatization would have on meeting planners
aren’t yet clear, but any renovation projects or new-build resorts
that have already been announced will be subject to review by the
new owners. Dispelling notions that further renovations or
development might be in jeopardy, Amy Dosa, senior marketing
manager for Las Vegas Meetings by Harrah’s Entertainment, says
there are indications that the new owners are planning major
capital development projects, but could not provide details. --
T.I.
Back on track:
The Beau Rivage
Resort & Casino is one
of the Biloxi properties
that have reopened
after being damaged
by Hurricane Katrina.
Mississippi Gulf Coast
The wave of post-Katrina casino
reopening and construction along Mississippi’s Gulf Coast continues
to roll along. In the Biloxi-Gulfport shore area, already-reopened
gaming facilities include the 1,740-room Beau Rivage Resort
& Casino, 1,088-room IP Hotel &
Casino, 700-room Isle of Capri Casino
Resort, 562-room Island View Casino
Resort and 500-room Grand Casino
Biloxi.
The 318-room Hard Rock Hotel
& Casino Biloxi plans to open its doors this summer,
providing employment to more than 1,000 area residents. The
property will include about 1,500 slot machines and 52 table games.
A spa, a fitness center, a pool, five restaurants, and Hard Rock
Live, an entertainment venue with capacity for 1,200, also are
included in the project.
More area development is in the
pipeline. The Bacaran Bay Casino Resort in Biloxi,
a $500 million property with 638 guest rooms, 432 condos, an
18-hole championship golf course and entertainment facilities, is
slated to open in fall of 2008 with 85,000 square feet of meeting
space and a 75,000-square-foot casino.
The Broadwater is a
proposed $1 billion project with 1,900 hotel rooms, two casinos,
125,000 square feet of gaming space and 104,000 square feet of
convention space.
Jimmy Buffett is working with Harrah’s
to develop a hotel and casino on the site formerly occupied by
Grand Casino and Casino Magic. The 798-room Margaritaville
Casino & Resort, to open in 2010, will have a
100,000-square-foot casino floor and 66,000 square feet of meeting
space, plus a full-service spa and 250,000 square feet of retail
space.
Bayview Ventures LLC has hopes to build
a casino property on the Biloxi Back Bay with 65,000 square feet of
gaming space and hotel facilities. West D’Iberville Development LLC
has plans for a $250 million project including a hotel, meeting
space, and a casino with as many as 2,000 slot machines and 60
table games. -- BRENDAN M. LYNCH
Pennsylvania
Last fall, the first wave of casinos
and racetracks, referred to as “racinos,” opened, nearly two years
after the state of Pennsylvania created 14 slot-gaming licenses.
Several other casino properties are coming online in 2007, and even
more are expected to open in 2008, although most do not include
plans for hotel accommodations.
Next year, two gaming properties -- the
Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia and
SugarHouse Casino -- are expected to open in
Philadelphia. The first phase of the Foxwoods project, estimated to
cost $560 million, calls for a casino with 3,000 slot machines,
while SugarHouse’s $550 mil-lion casino and entertainment project
will include 5,000 slots. Both projects have long-term master plans
that include restaurants, retail and, eventually, 500-room luxury
hotels and an abundance of meeting space.
Las Vegas Sands Corp., via its
subsidiary Sands Bethworks Gaming LLC, is building a 300-room hotel
with 200,000 square feet of retail space and 3,000 slot machines on
the site of the former Bethlehem Steel plant in its namesake city.
The property, currently being called Sands
Bethworks, will house the National Museum of Industrial
History and an arts and cultural center, as well as a television
studio. The company hopes to open the complex sometime next
year.
The Mohegan Sun at Pocono
Downs opened a new 1,100-slot parlor last November. On top
of its racetrack and clubhouse that can hold up to 300 for events,
the facility will feature a total of 2,000 slot machines, three
restaurants, 20,000 square feet of retail space and a nightclub by
mid-2008.
The Philadelphia Park Casino
and Racetrack opened its new casino last December. The
venue features 2,100 slot machines and several dining and
entertainment options. Two private rooms hold up to 50 and 100
people respectively, and two pavilions that can accommodate 100
each are available for rent.
Harrah’s Chester Casino &
Racetrack, in Chester, opened this past January with 2,700
slot machines and a 14,000-square-foot event center.
In Erie, Presque Isle
Downs opened in February with 2,000 slot machines, three
dining areas, four lounges and a racetrack that will begin live
thoroughbred racing in September.
About 30 miles outside of Pittsburgh,
The Meadows opened a temporary slots facility with 1,800 slot
machines this past spring, as work commences on the permanent
Meadows Racetrack & Casino, which will feature
roughly 3,000 slot machines, a two-story theater and a convention
area. -- BRYAN DARROW
St. Louis
Lumiere Place, the $475 million Pinnacle hotel
and casino project under construction in downtown St. Louis, is on
track to open before year’s end. The complex will include a
200-room hotel, 12,000 square feet of meeting space, several
restaurants, a spa, and a casino with 2,000 slots and 40 table
games. The adjoining 297-room Embassy Suites hotel is temporarily
closed for renovations. A pedestrian tunnel will link Lumiere Place
to the America’s Center convention center complex. -- T.I.
Macau
In 2006, gross gaming revenue in Macau, the booming Special
Administrative Region of China, surpassed that of the Las Vegas
Strip. According to Portsmouth, N.H.-based Lodging Econometrics, 33
casino hotel projects are in the pipeline for Macau, representing
more than 25,000 rooms (or an average of an impressive 760 rooms
each). But analysts predict that demand for gaming here might
disperse if other Asian countries, Japan and the Philippines among
them, legalize gambling in the near future.
For now, focus is centered on the
1,500-room Galaxy Mega Resort, currently under
construction and set for an early 2008 opening, which will feature
270,000 square feet of gaming space with more than 450 gaming
tables and 1,000 slot machines. Other facilities at the Galaxy Mega
Resort will include a shopping mall, a health club/spa, music
lounges, a children’s arcade, a theater and multiple restaurants.
Conference, convention and exhibition facilities also are planned
for the expansive resort.
Late 2007 will see the opening of the
$1.1 billion MGM Grand Macau, set to house 345
table games and 1,035 slot machines. The 600-room waterfront
property also will feature an iconic atrium, restaurants and
entertainment facilities. Moreover, 70,000 square feet of space has
been set aside for future expansion of the casino. This past
February, MGM Grand Paradise, the resort’s developer, announced it
has begun formulating plans for a second Macau resort.
The Grand Lisboa, an extension of the
Lisboa Casino Hotel operated by Macau gaming
magnate Dr. Stanley Ho, opened in February. The 44-story tower
resembles the feathered crown of a revue dancer and features an
eight-story sphere-shaped podium containing a casino and a
restaurant.
The 3,000-suite Venetian
Macao is expected to open this summer as one of the
largest hotels in Asia. The property, on the Cotai Strip, will
feature a full 1.2 million square feet of meeting, convention and
exhibition space, plus a 15,000-seat arena and 1 million square
feet of retail space.
The Cotai Strip also is due to get two
Shangri-La hotels -- the 600-room Shangri-La Hotel,
Macau, and the 1,200-room Traders Hotel,
Macau -- in 2008. Both hotels will be built within one
39-story tower that will feature a 64,500-square-foot ballroom. The
property’s casino will be managed by the Las Vegas Sands Corp. --
B.M.L.
United Kingdom
In January, the British government
selected the city of Manchester as the site of the country’s first
“super-casino,” as it’s being called. Although the project has run
into some political resistance, most tourism officials expect the
property to be realized, eventually. Manchester beat out a field of
16 cities that included London, which planned to house the casino
in its former Millennium Dome, and the seaside resort of
Blackpool.
Through the license awarded by the
government, Manchester is allowed to build a venue for up to 1,250
unlimited-jackpot gaming machines, as well as an entertainment
complex with a range of facilities such as a multipurpose arena, a
swimming pool, an urban sports venue, restaurants, bars, a
nightclub and a hotel. Manchester’s bid organizers said the complex
would regenerate a poor area in the east of the city and would give
it 2,700 new jobs. The government plans to use the Manchester
complex as a test model before granting more super-casino
licenses. -- LISA GRIMALDI