What goes up...
What goes up...
Harrah's ends talks for 600-foot-tall attraction
Harrah's Entertainment has ended talks with a company that wanted to build the world's largest observation wheel at the Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.The $86 million project, which Voyager Entertainment International promised would alter the skyline of the Las Vegas Strip, had generated quite a buzz around Las Vegas. Harrah's predicted the 600-foot-tall attraction would draw in excess of two million customers a year to the Rio.
But last month, the two companies broke off talks, both sides declining to say why. Harrah's said it would continue to explore its options for land on the southeast side of the Rio where the observation wheel was expected to be built. One report has the company building a new hotel tower.
University of Nevada Las Vegas professor and casino industry expert Bill Thompson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the wheel would have been wrong for the Rio.
"What they need to do is build more hotel rooms and first-class casinos," he said. "That's what brings revenue to town. This was just gimmicky."
Voyager Entertainment said the wheel may still have a place in Las Vegas. Company President Richard Hannigan said the company has already identified other sites where the attraction could be built. But financing concerns were raised in the company's latest Securities and Exchange Commission filing and could threaten the project without a successful backer.
-Andy Holtmann
