"One hudred percent false," says Boyd Gaming, owner of the project (now simply called Echelon). "There is no truth to that whatsoever. We have ample funding under our credit facility to complete the Echelon project," added company spokesman Rob Stillwell, who says it's on target to open in the third quarter of 2010.
What you may be hearing about is the two-hotel commitment of Morgans Hotel Group, which is slated to build and operate two hotels at Echelon -- a Mondrian and a Delano -- to the tune of $950 million.
On April 10, Reuters reported that "funding has not been secured" for Morgans' portion of the project. The company is already committed to a $620 million expansion of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, of which it is one-third owner. Stillwell told Reuters that, while it was Boyd's intention to open all facets of Echelon simultaneously, where Morgans' two hotels were concerned, Boyd was willing to extend some "flexibility."
In its most recent conference call, Morgans stated it (in tandem with Boyd) had $200 million in equity committed to Echelon and did not intend to put in any more, but was "diligently pursuing additional equity financing to complete this project." More ominously, Morgans Chief Investment Officer Marc Gordon said, "It is possible that it becomes cost-prohibitive to do it in today's market. So all options are on the table, including potentially delaying or readjusting the scope of the project."
Since the Delano and Mondrian hotels will sit off to the south side of the project, their absence will not be conspicuous if Echelon opens without them. Progress reports on the project can be found, as always, at Vegas Today and Tomorrow.
