Wynn,
Who Has an Early Winner, Plans an Encore
Business at Wynn Las Vegas has
been so strong that Steve Wynn says he'll begin
building his next Las Vegas hotel in the spring.
Wynn
said Monday afternoon that he'll begin building
the Encore soon after he agrees with his builder
on an exact price for the $1.5 billion project,
which he expects to submit to his bankers by
the end of March.
Encore,
which will take about two years to build, will
have about 2,030 suites, with the smallest room
encompassing 738 square feet -- the biggest
rooms on the Strip, Wynn said.
The
casino will have 40,000 square feet and four
restaurants, its own pool and spa and a parking
garage.
"Adding
2,000 rooms to this place is like spittin' on
the floor," Wynn said. "You can't
miss."
Borrowing
the money to build won't be a problem, he said.
"They
were eager to give us $1.4 billion before we
opened (Wynn Las Vegas in April)," Wynn
said. "After our opening success, don't
you think they'll be even more eager?"
The
combined properties will give Wynn almost 4,800
rooms and more than 150,000 square feet of casino
space.
There
will also be a nightclub -- "a big sucker
by the pool," Wynn said.
The
new tower, with 48 floors, will have three more
floors than Wynn Las Vegas, and the tower will
be wider as well, to make space for the bigger
suites.
The
new hotel will have the same exterior look as
Wynn Las Vegas and will connect to the existing
property at its north end, near its showrooms.
Like
Wynn Las Vegas, the Encore tower will curve,
but the inside of the tower's curve will look
north, with the end of the tower opposite its
connection to Wynn Las Vegas pointing toward
the Stardust.
Wynn
said the $251 million in net revenue Wynn Las
Vegas reported in the quarter ending Sept. 30
made the decision to expand easy.
"We
did some research, and Bellagio in its first
six years never got to $251 million in net revenue
until the first quarter of this year, after
it was expanded to 4,000 rooms," he said.
"We did it in the summer of our first year."
The
third quarter is traditionally a slow revenue
period, much weaker than the first quarter,
which includes big conventions and the New Year,
Chinese New Year and Super Bowl weekend frenzies.
Longtime
gaming executive Patty Becker, now executive
director of UNLV's International Gaming Institute,
said Wynn's success opening properties is undeniable.
"He's
the best or one of the best," Becker said.
"He's a leader in that regard -- with the
Mirage, with Bellagio and now with the Wynn."
UNLV
public administration professor Bill Thompson
said Wynn is at the forefront of the change
in Las Vegas toward wealthier, bigger-spending
visitors and gamblers.
"He
sets the standard, and others catch up to him,"
Thompson said. "He understands these high
rollers better than anyone."
Thompson
noted that the Encore addition would differ
from the 1993 opening of Treasure Island four
years after Wynn opened the Mirage, because
Treasure Island was a lower cost alternative
than the top-of-the-line neighbor.
"With
all suites and bigger rooms, this will probably
be where Wynn keeps some of his best casino
guests," Thompson predicted.
Wynn
first announced plans to expand Wynn Las Vegas
in February 2003, and the plans have grown from
a new half-billion-dollar tower of about 500
rooms to a much bigger concept in a separate,
albeit connected, hotel.
Wynn
said his plans for the expansion grew as his
evaluation of the market changed. The power
of Wynn Las Vegas and its reception surprised
him, he admitted.
But
working against expansion was the recent spike
in building costs, which made him think that
it might be better to wait until costs cooled
down. He blamed the rising costs on the number
of projects now under way in Las Vegas and the
rising price of steel and concrete.
Wynn
said Tony Marnell, who built Wynn Las Vegas,
Bellagio, Treasure Island and the Mirage, would
not be building Encore. He said Marnell will
be busy with other projects, probably including
Marne
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