New Las Vegas Resort Will Feature 500,000 Square Feet of Exhibit Space, 3,500 Rooms

April 5, 2013

Asian-inspired Resorts World Las Vegas will add more than half a million square feet of convention space to the city when it opens in 2016.

Malaysia-based Genting Group is banking on iconic Asian elements, including the replica of the Great Wall of China, red-roofed pagoda-style buildings and a panda habitat, at its new 87-acre development on the Strip.

The multi-billion dollar property  will feature about 3,500 rooms, 175,000 square feet of gaming space, dining, retail, a theater and more than 300,000 feet of pool and water features.

“The convention business has always been an important component of the Las Vegas market and we see our space having a business to business focus which will be a compliment and enhancement to what is already currently available to the trade shows in Las Vegas,” said Christian Goode, senior vice president of Development for Resorts World Americas.

Across from Wynn-Encore, the hotel is to take the place of the old Stardust Hotel and Casino that was imploded in 2007 to make room for Boyd Gaming’s multi-hotel development named Echelon, which was never finished because of the recession.

Genting paid $350 million for the land and Echelon’s concrete structures, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The project is just one in a series of new ones recently announced that will inject more than $5 billion into the destination during the next several years.

"This is an exciting time as the confidence in the Las Vegas brand continues to build with new projects and ongoing reinvestment," said Rossi Ralenkotter, president/CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. 

He added, "The billions of dollars being invested in Las Vegas for unique experiences and world-class facilities and amenities show why Las Vegas continues to be the premier leisure and business destination."

Here are some of the other projects in the works:

MGM Resorts International and AEG’s plans for a 20,000-seat arena to be located west of the Las Vegas Strip between New York-New York and Monte Carlo resorts

MGM also is rebranding THEhotel at Mandalay Bay into Delano Las Vegas, which will open in early 2014, and renovating several of its properties, including Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, The Mirage and Bellagio

Caesars Entertainment will build the Gansevoort Las Vegas, a new boutique resort and casino to be located on the former site of Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall & Saloon

In February, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority unveiled plans for the Las Vegas Global Business District, a $2.5 billion development with the Las Vegas Convention Center as the centerpiece.  

Resorts World Las Vegas will be Genting Group’s first project on the Strip. It already operates destination resorts in Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and the United Kingdom, as well as owns a casino at New York’s Kennedy International Airport.

The company also has 45-percent ownership of Norwegian Cruise Line and Star Cruise brands.

Genting is scheduled to break ground in 2014 and is planning on a 2016 opening, according to company officials.

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