Unfortunately, we don’t think there is. Here at the Las Vegas Advisor, we have slight differences of opinion in terms of degree, but not kind: We all agree that little on the horizon indicates it’ll be happy days are here again anytime soon.
That said, there are a few things happening.
Downtown, in particular, is seeing significant construction. The new $186 million City Hall is on track to be completed in the first quarter of 2012. Nearby, the $485 million Smith Center for the Performing Arts is also scheduled to open around the same time in 2012, which will be a major event for the local arts community.
And a big deal is being made about Zappos moving into the old City Hall. We find this a bit ironic: It used to be that "a big deal" in Vegas involved multi-billion mega- and even metaresorts, a tri-tower condo development, or a huge new shopping center. These days, an online shoe retailer taking over an old public-sector building (though, it must be said, that Zappos is investing $25 million and bringing 1,000 employees) has Mayor Oscar calling it "giant" and "history-changing."
In the ’burbs near Summerlin, the 29-acre $850 million retail, entertainment, and office project, Tivoli Village, is nearly two years behind schedule, but will open Phase I in the next month or so.
Beyond that, the Lady Luck keeps threatening to be remodeled (the opening date is now sometime in 2012); construction on the $2.4 billion Terminal 3 at McCarran will be completed next year; and Harrah’s Project Linq pedestrian promenade remains on the drawing board, though it continues to break more wind than ground.
