Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

May 28, 2012

Wynn Talks Cotai ; Las Vegas: Climax, Fountains and a New Show?

Posted by Hunter

Happy Memorial Day to all y'all out there. I've got a little bit of hot info for those of you taking the day off to relax.

Steve Wynn, Chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts and recent Cotai land grantee went on the record with Macau Business magazine to talk in detail about the project and also a little bit about Las Vegas. Some tidbits:

- The property will cost about $3.5 billion to build.
- Construction starts in June.
- The land is setup for a single hotel - future expansion will be limited to smaller additions.
- The project includes a 300 meter (almost 1000 feet) long lake. It will be bigger than Bellagio's lake and feature more advanced water fountains that cost about $90 million to build.
- The hotel is in an 'X' shape with maximum 45 meter distances to guest rooms.
- Like Encore Macau, it's all petite suites and larger.
- It will include villas with outdoor pools like we've seen in Las Vegas.
- 2,000 rooms.
- Around 40 retail shops.
- No 'Alex' - he's sold on the idea that people like 'fun' dining and don't want to sit for ages and have Michelin Star food.
- The property will open at once. "We don't do phases"

When it comes to Las Vegas:

- He talks about Climax as if it's still happening in Vegas, though he does not say where. This is a pretty recent interview that seems to have been given after we had heard that the Climax club planned for the Alex space was scuttled due to soundproofing problems.
- Apparently a new show is being developed for Las Vegas that could also work at the Cotai property. New show? Interesting. Displacing Le Reve? Something permanent for the Encore Theater? Miss Spectacular re-born?

Anyway, lots of info here and while some of it was already public, nice to have a single source.


Categories: Casino Design, Las Vegas Strip, Macau Casinos and Hotels, Wynn Resorts


Comments

Read archived comments (14 so far)
May 28, 2012 11:48 AM Posted by detroit1051

Hunter, thanks for the link to the interview. I had tried to read it on the Macau Business site, but it wouldn't let me because I'm not a subscriber. I hope the new shows in Vegas and Macau aren't more of the same Cirque-type offerings, but I'm sure Steve will never try Miss Spectacular again. He was burned once; that's enough.

Climaxx will be about 12,000 sq ft, if I did my math right. That's not very large. What's Steve talking about when he says, "We’re talking about sensory overload. The entire club is a special effects platform." As for the Alex space in Vegas, how large is it? Could Steve still build Climaxx there if he put in new walls, windows and ceiling on the inside of the space to cut noise? Anyway, it'll be fun to see details leak out on Wynn Cotai.

May 28, 2012 12:56 PM Posted by Brian Fey

If he is saying its X shaped, are we to believe that the rendering we saw posted on the wall is actually not Macau at all?

May 28, 2012 2:32 PM Posted by Hunter

I know 100% that the wall posting was the Cotai render but that was at the time of the video. Things change a lot in Wynn-land... Also, it could be in the description or translation too.

May 28, 2012 5:51 PM Posted by detroit1051

Forgot to add that if Steve reduced room count from 2,500 to 2,000, that's a 20% reduction. How could he justify that?

May 28, 2012 7:53 PM Posted by Jeff in OKC

My shop is 3 buildings of 6000 SF each that are connected, and I can say with certainty that two of them would make for a large night club.
In regards to Mr. Wynn having to justify a room count reduction: I think he is Steve Wynn and he can do what he wants. What are you gonna do, invest with Sheldon Adelson.

May 29, 2012 7:22 AM Posted by Brian Fey

I don't think he wanted to reduce the rooms to 2000, but since he had the height restriction, I'm not sure he had any choice. One of the downfalls with being next to the airport. It will also be interesting to see if noise from the jets is an issue.

May 29, 2012 8:14 AM Posted by Mike P.

@detroit1051 I was able to read the entire article from Hunter's link.

Mr. Wynn was quoted as saying he consults with Guy Laliberte and might book a traveling Cirque show, so you may be disappointed there.

I wish I hadn't cashed out my LVS stock after it only quadrupled up from $6. Right now Sheldon seems to be doing everything right.

May 29, 2012 9:26 PM Posted by Mungroo

Hunter - really informative interview. Thank you for posting the link.

It is always interesting to read interviews with Wynn or to hear him talk on the earnings calls. Everything is always going according to his plan and expectations, so there is a fair amount of BS but also really interesting nuggets.

He was unusually complimentary about his competitors in Cotai - including the Venetian!

The 60:40 split between VIP and mass-market gamers is interesting too. That is a somewhat weird thing about Macau casinos - big private gaming rooms are off limits to the general public.

The design and build of this project should be fun to follow especially since nothing is planned for the Strip (apart from SLS which is not remotely the same scale).

May 30, 2012 12:45 AM Posted by Duffman

Anyone else notice he called it "The" Bellagio?

May 30, 2012 4:40 AM Posted by farewell-fatboy

the rendering we saw posted on the wall is actually not Macau at all? How could he justify that?

June 6, 2012 1:03 PM Posted by David McKee

Wynn's choice of an X-wing design is interesting: Paris-LV did that back in '99 (and also touted the shorter walk to one's room) but it didn't launch a trend in Vegas -- and certainly not with one Steve Wynn! But the Wynncore curved-tower thing has been mimicked to death, so perhaps he'll start a vogue for the X-form casino-hotel now.

June 9, 2012 3:53 AM Posted by mike_ch

Dave M, is not MGM Grand II technically an X? I guess it's kind of an ___X, but you get the idea.

Certainly didn't shorten any walks to rooms, though.

June 11, 2012 10:38 AM Posted by a

a new rendering.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/05/uk-wynnmacau-idUSLNE85400G20120605

July 9, 2012 9:03 PM Posted by Jeff Gold

Why not do a curved X shaped building? How about a mountain of waterfalls in the middle of the fountain show? I mean a mountain of waterfalls like no other... over the top!! Wynn's brown & red tones in his casino areas are amazing, why not a black & gold section. Black & gold done right looks billionaire status. Red card program could offer a GOLD card after you reach a certain level of play. The possibilities are endless when 4 billion is involved!!