Malaysia-based Genting Group will announce today its acquisition of the Echelon site and outline plans to build a $2 billion hotel-casino complex on 87 acres of that was halted nearly five years ago when the recession began.
Genting, which operates casinos in Singapore and New York City, will pay $350 million to Boyd Gaming Corp. for Echelons. The initial phase of Resort World Las Vegas will include 3,500 rooms and 175,000 square feet of casinos.
The place once had a famous stardust. 에볼루션 바카라사이트
Resort World Las Vegas is expected to open in 2016 with a variety of restaurant and dining options, along with 250,000 square feet of retail stores, more than 500,000 square feet of convention space, theater and outdoor swimming pool amenities.
“Today is a great day for Genting, Las Vegas, and Nevada, and we look forward to making the most of this exciting new opportunity,” KT Chairman Lim Genting said in a statement. “This is an unparalleled opportunity to demonstrate what has made the Resort World brand a globally recognized success over the past few decades.”
Lim is expected to hold a press conference in Las Vegas today with Gov. Brian Sandoval, who applauded Genting’s move to Nevada. Analysts consider Genting one of the world’s top hotel-casino operators.
“Genting Group and Resorts World Las Vegas will bring thousands of new jobs to our state, and our economic comeback will help us on the right path to success,” Sandoval said in a statement.
Genting must obtain permission from the Nevada gaming regulator before the casino opens.
A spokesperson said Genting would include most of the remnants of the Echelon project, including unfinished concrete and steel hotel structures and parking lots, in its development of Resorts World Las Vegas.
The project has been silent since Boyd Gaming stopped building a planned $4.8 billion resort in August 2008. According to the company’s annual report last year, Boyd expected to spend between $15.5 million and $17 million annually on maintaining the Echelon site, including security costs and property taxes.
Boyd Gaming’s original concept for Echelon was five hotels and suites of 5,000 different sizes in total, all connected to the 140,000-square-foot casino. The project included 300,000-square-foot retail stores, 750,000-square-foot convention and conference spaces, 30 restaurants, and two theaters.
Most of the Echelon site was once home to stardust, but Boyd purchased several adjacent parcels to increase its area. The largest acquisition was 27 acres from harrah’s entertainment in October 2006, in exchange for the Barbary coast.
Stardust closed in November 2006, and disbanded four months later to make way for the official groundbreaking of eshelon in June 2007. Boyd Gaming stopped building the project 14 months later when the credit market began to wane.
Boyd Gaming’s executives have been congratulated by local political leaders and Wall Street analysts for taking the gutsy step of halting development after spending nearly $1.5 billion on construction. Several game analysts said that if Boyd Gaming had not stopped Echelon, the company could have ended up in bankruptcy.
Boyd planned to restart Echelons within a year, but the economy did not cooperate.
Last summer, Clark County commissioners gave Boyd Gaming a six-year extension to complete the North Strip development by 2018. The commissioners also called on the company to “maze” the site. Boyd Gaming was landscape and hiding more than $4 million of strategically placed unfinished structures.
Genting’s announcement marks the second North Strip activation project announced this year. Last month, SBE Entertainment began a $400 million (W4 trillion) renovation of the Sahara Desert into SLS Las Vegas.
Genting’s best-known properties are Resort World Sentosa and Resort World New York in Singapore.
The building, which includes a Universal Studios theme park in Singapore, is one of two casinos in the island nation along with Marina Bay Sands in Las Vegas Sands. In 2012, Resort World Sentosa alone made $2.94 billion in gaming revenue, which is almost half of what overall Streep collected from gaming last year.
Resort World New York opened in October 2011 and is attached to the Aqua duct Racecourse in New York City. The property has nearly 5,000 video lottery handsets and electronic table games. In 2012, Resort World New York reported gaming revenue of more than $638 million.
Genting made headlines last year when he announced that he would invest $3.8 billion to develop Resort World Miami.
The project, which includes more than 5,000 hotel rooms and is designed as an 800-foot trail along Biscayne Bay, was shelved when Florida lawmakers repealed the game expansion bill.
Genting, who has invested $500 million in the 30-acre site, said he will make smaller complex developments while waiting for Florida to enact a gaming law.