Multi-billion dollar new Vegas venture for Starwood
Starwood Hotels & Resorts reported plans for a $1.7 billion Las Vegas project and soon after announced it was acquiring the 130-property Le Meridien brand.
Starwood is joining with Edge Resorts, a group of private investors, in the Las Vegas project that will include 3,000 hotel and residential units, a 75,000 square foot casino and 300,000 square feet of meeting space.
The Vegas project will also include more than ten destination dining and nightlife outlets.
The project due to open in 2008 sits on a 21-acre site east of the Las Vegas strip, next to the popular Hard Rock hotel-casino.
W Hotels Worldwide is also a partner and will open its first hotel in Vegas, the W Las Vegas Hotel, Casino and Residences.
“Las Vegas is like no other city in the world and has been on the top of W’s development strategy for years,” said Ross Klein, senior vice president, chief marketing officer, W Hotels Worldwide.
“The other properties will orbit around us,” Mr Klein told the Associated Press.
Mr Klein said he has been trying to bring a modern hotel to Las Vegas since the launching of the first W in late 1998. He said the Vegas market was still “red hot and white hot for innovation.”
He said the new resort would compete with the Hard Rock, Mandalay Bay, the Palms, Wynn Las Vegas and Four Seasons.
The first W Hotel opened in New York in December of 1998. There are now five hotels in New York City and 20 hotels in the US and abroad.
Adam Frank, a partner in Edge Resorts, said the project combines the hottest hotel brand in the world with one of the most vibrant hospitality markets in the US.
Starwood Hotels has more than 750 properties in 80 countries. Its holdings include St. Regis, Four Points by Sheraton, and others.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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