Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/138830
REAL ESTATE NEWS shaping up, shipping out T ony Hsieh, Zappos chief and author of the 2010 best seller Delivering Happiness, is using repurposed shipping containers and modular cubes to build a complex at Fremont and Seventh Streets to house small businesses, including cafés, bars, boutiques, and galleries—part of his Downtown Project revitalization plan (downtownproject.com). The containers and cubes will be stacked and combined to create a three-story edifice aimed at drawing more people to a formerly neglected city block. To one side of the entrance, the Catalyst Dome (similar to a planetarium) will have images projected on its interior walls. There will also be a children's courtyard with a climbing wall, a sand play area, and water features. Other plans call for retail and office space, a stage, shade structures, and bridges, decks, and walkways overlooking the streets. The project is scheduled to be completed in the fall. MGM Resorts International is spending $100 million to construct an open-air entertainment promenade linking two of its Strip properties: New York-New York and Monte Carlo. The project, spread across 24 acres, will create retail and dining spaces between the resorts. The neighboring hotel-casinos will be connected by a tree-dotted plaza lined with benches and shops, including a two-story Hershey's Chocolate World and a Shake Shack. Opening in phases between 2014 and 2016, the development is expected to employ 1,000 to 1,500 construction workers. The façades and ABOVE: Echelon entryways of the existing properties will also be Place. BELOW: Golden Gate. updated. Meanwhile, MGM and the Los Angeles–based sports and entertainment promoter AEG are planning a freestanding 20,000seat indoor arena accessible via the new promenade. Genting Group has bought the unfinished Echelon project, which for five years has served as a grim reminder of the building boom gone bust. The Malaysiabased company recently paid $350 million for the 87-acre property, the former site of the Stardust, and unveiled plans for a $2 billionplus Asian-themed megaresort complex, to be called Resorts 110 World Las Vegas. Plans call for glass towers with pagoda-style roofs, 3,500 hotel rooms, a 500,000-square-foot convention center, a 4,000-seat theater, 250,000 square feet of retail space, a replica of the Great Wall of China, and a water theme park, plus multiple restaurants. The project will start construction in 2014 and reach completion in 2016. Up, up, and away: A new $11 million zipline attraction is taking shape in Downtown. SlotZilla, stretching from Las Vegas Boulevard to Main Street, consists of a 12-story slot machine that serves as a launch platform for two levels of four zip lines each. The top lines will be 116 feet high and extend 1,700 feet to the front of the Golden Gate hotel-casino. Riders will fly in superhero position—lying flat in a harness— and be launched at a speed of 35 mph with a propulsion system. SlotZilla will TOP: New also have a slot machine handle, York-New spinning reels, and two 37-footYork. LEFT: Tony Hsieh. tall Vegas showgirls. Fremont Street Experience, the project's owner, says the ride is scheduled to open this summer. And yes, it takes reservations (vegasexperience.com). The Big Lebowski would approve. South Point Hotel and Casino (southpointcasino.com) is spending $30 million to build a new bowling arena on the southwest end of its 60-acre property, to open in the fall of 2015. The move follows the announcement that South Point has inked a 12-year deal with the United States Bowling Congress to host annual events, including the Open Championship and the Women's Championship, starting in 2016. The two-story arena will more than double the size of the hotel-casino's bowling facilities, adding more than 60 lanes with stadium-style fan seating. There will also be a 25,000-square-foot tournament registration area, as well as a bowlers' squad room and modern locker facilities, among other amenities. Roll on. V PHOTOGRAPHY BY EORGE ROSE/GETTY IMAGES (NEW YORK-NEW YORK, GOLDEN GATE); ETHAN MILLER/GETTY IMAGES (ECHELON) WHETHER IT'S BOWLING IN A WORLD-CLASS ARENA, SAVORING A NEW ASIAN-THEMED MEGARESORT, OR ZIPPING THROUGH THE AIR LIKE SUPERMAN THAT IS YOUR ADVENTURE OF CHOICE, VEGAS HAS YOU COVERED. BY TONY ILLIA VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 110_V_HP_RENews_Sum13.indd 110 6/17/13 10:34 AM