Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

October 31, 2006

Growing Construction Costs in Las Vegas - Slowing Development?

Posted by Hunter

This Wall Street Journal article (presented via Yahoo! - I hope that means you can read it w/o a subscription!) talks about how construction costs in the Valley have been rising and how that impacts costs for the big gaming operators, both those with projects going and those with stuff on the drawing board.

Wall Street Journal via Yahoo! (free!)

If that doesn't work, here's the original WSJ link (subscription required):

Wall Street Journal (subscription required)


Categories: Business of Gaming, Caesars/Harrah's, Casino Design, Downtown Las Vegas, Las Vegas Strip, MGM Resorts International, Reader Questions


Comments

Read archived comments (3 so far)
November 1, 2006 12:47 AM Posted by mike_ch

Both require subscriptions.

November 1, 2006 7:30 AM Posted by detroit1051

The Journal article is very interesting. Rising construction costs, shortages of steel, concrete, glass, labor shortages, etc will contribute to the scaling back of projects as the story said. Once again, MGM showed its leadership position by starting CityCenter when it did, even increasing its budget from $5 Billion to $7 Billion. This is one project which will be completed as planned, on schedule. It's mind-boggling: CityCenter will have 7,000 workers onsite in 2008 with 20 cranes in use. I still have doubts about Boyd's Echelon Place and believe the scope will be downsized.
This was the first time I've seen Wynn's golf course development described as "Epcot-like." Did I miss something?
The private equity takover of HET will certainly stop or slow down many of Loveman's plans for the Strip. Either that, or Loveman realizes the numbers don't work, and he would have slowed down on his own.
Also interesting was the comment about a slowdown in hotel room growth which many analysts would welcome. Too bad we can't link the Journal story here.

November 1, 2006 7:58 AM Posted by mike_ch

Detroit, the original, shelved Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (E.P.C.o.T) was, literally, a massive domed city that would feature (as of back then) state of the art technology. The concept seemed like a real stretch in the 70s and it's both outdated and unfeasible today. Once Walt Disney died, the company abandoned the project and built what you know as Epcot today.

For more info see this Wikipedia link.

As for what it has in common with Wynn's golf course development, either somebody knows something I don't or else hyperbole is in full effect.