EVER CHANGING STRIP SHOULD QUALIFY AS THE 8TH WONDER OF THE WORLD
With the proposed $40 million purchase of ambitious American artworks to be installed at the new MGM City Center project the old-time tackiness of our great playground finally gives way to a new classy Vegas. It’s one more dynamic face-change for the Strip in a series of multi-billion$ of ongoing advances and improvements that will surely rank it as one of the wonders of the world.
In the art world Maya Lin, Henry Moore, Richard Long, Claes Oldenbeurg are as important as Celine Dion, Bette Midler, Cher and Elton John are to our world. The artistic change in Vegas began with hotel tycoon Steve Wynn’s gallery for Monet and Renoir and was quickly followed by Sheldon Adelson’s branch of the world-famous Guggenheim Hermitage museum at his Venetian resort. Now the new City Center art works will be on display both inside and out the giant sprawling 65-acre $8-billion resort going up center-strip at an incredible pace. Vietnam Veterans Memorial sculptress Maya Lin is creating a 130-foot silver version of the Colorado River for the main lobby check-in area at a cost of $3-million alone! One massive marble statue alone is costing $7-million, three pieces of pop-art and a 245-foot LED ‘snake’ will highlight the entryway of the new Harmon condo-tel and a giant 85-foot by 65-foot ‘big boat’ sculpture will be placed in the park area!
As if that’s not enough!… It’s all supposed to be top secret but we can reveal that hotel mogul Barry Sternlicht, who is involved in the upcoming plans for the Riviera, will also launch an entire new nationwide hotel brand “1” that will spell out the ultimate in Vegas deluxe! He has two of the “ones” under construction and plans for seven others are already underway including the best of them all right here on the Strip! We’re way ahead of the official announcement set for later this year. Expect everything from suites, restaurants, entertainment, lounges and shopping to simply be No. 1 in the world—unbeatable!
Meanwhile the ambitious and extraordinary plans to recreate the world-famous Plaza Hotel New York landmark on the site of the old Frontier got the go-ahead this week from our Clark County commissioners—and despite the tight financial markets the Israel ELAD Group says the $4-billion Plaza will entirely change the look of the north west side of the Strip with seven towers featuring the ultra-luxury hotel, private residences, a convention complex and other attractions including top chefs and shops. ELAD says the design will be completed and excavation started around years end.
(Our thanks to photographer Tom Donoghue who climbed some hair-raising heights to capture these extraordinary new photos of the Strip at sunset to illustrate this story!)
Yet another new change to the Vegas skyline is already underway on a narrow niche space between the inter-connected Venetian and Palazzo resorts—and owner Sheldon Adelson is already looking at first plans and contemplating two other expansions. A third new resort might be built atop his existing Sands Convention center and a new combo resort-convention complex might be built on land he owns behind Steve Wynn’s staff parking structure behind the Venetian and linked to it by a people mover. Meantime construction is in progress on the new 400-condo tower on the sliver of Strip frontage between his two resorts. When the new chefs at the Palazzo were being unveiled to us more than three-months ago I was introduced to Jeff Joseph and the Chicago and London investor groups who will “merge” in their extraordinary lifestyle-entertainment operations with the luxurious $2,000 a square-foot 53-story apartment city. I was asked to keep the amazing plans for the spa, Movida nightclub from London, Sass café play pools from Monte Carlo and three different Jean Georges Vongerichten star chef restaurant operations “under my hat” until everything was ready to be announced late spring, early summer. Turns out that the “super-secret” was breached so I’m now free to tell what I knew more than 90-days ago! Think of all this as a resort with its own component identities within two existing resorts. As Sheldon has said: “Once a guest arrives at our property there will be no reason for them to leave to go anywhere else while they are in Vegas.” His next big announcement comes with the opening of his new Jersey Boys theater on April 4 with the first preview performances followed by the celebrity studded red-carpet gala on May 3. As Frankie Valli once sang its all “Too Good To be True”—but in fact this is all the true new changing face of the Strip—the next Eighth Wonder of the World?
For fun you can check out the lists of all Seven Wonders of the World—one of which includes our nearby Hoover Dam at Lake Mead by clicking onto wonderclub.com.