Grand opening
by Andy Holtmann
Departments
Grand opening
Palazzo project brings massive Las Vegas Strip resort-casino-amenity complex to fruition for Las Vegas Sands Inc.
Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s $1.9 billion Palazzo Las Vegas Resort Hotel Casino became a reality in January as the long-awaited property celebrated its official grand opening.
The expansive, 50-story Palazzo features 3,068 room and suites; the 450,000-square-foot Shoppes at The Palazzo, anchored by the 85,000-square-foot Barneys New York; over a dozen upscale dining options; an 1,800-seat, custom-built theater; the largest Canyon Ranch SpaClub ever built, and many more amenities. Coupled with the adjacent Venetian Casino Resort, the two properties combine to offer a resort-casino complex that contains 7,128 hotel rooms, two casinos totaling more than 200,000 square feet, nearly one million square feet of retail and 2.3 million square feet of meeting, convention and exhibition space.
The Palazzo seeks to wow patrons with amenities, offering a posh complement to Las Vegas Sands’ immensely popular Venetian property.
“In The Palazzo Las Vegas, our vision was to develop a property of elevated luxury in Las Vegas,” Palazzo President Rob Goldstein said late last year. “We’re balancing sophisticated design and décor and luxurious experiences with some of the simple comforts of home to cater to the preferences of the most discerning traveler.”
It is the first new resort-casino to open on the Las Vegas Strip since the April 2005 opening of Wynn Las Vegas. The project took longer than originally anticipated, largely due to the work involved with a massive excavation project that removed one million cubic yards of dirt, creating a pit 70 feet deep that now contains a 4,400-space underground parking garage. That project added between $50 million and $60 million to the resort’s price tag, said Las Vegas Sands Corp. Executive Vice President Brad Stone.
“Land is so valuable in Las Vegas, and we had two benefits,” Stone told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We made additional use of a very expensive piece of real estate, and we created a unique parking experience. The customer comes from the garage right into the casino either by escalator or elevator.”
Some portions of the resort—including the casino and rapper Jay-Z’s 40/40 nightclub—were opened to invited guests on New Year’s Eve, and other areas of the property have had phased openings throughout January, but the resort as a whole opened late January during a series of star-studded events and parties. Some 2,300 of the resort’s rooms are expected to be available and about 50 percent of the retail tenants will be open for business. The remainder of the property is expected to be in full operation by March.
A 50-story condominium tower is still being built on the Venetian-Palazzo site. That project is estimated to cost $465 million and will feature 300 units for sale as soon as this summer.
