That depends. At present, there are two rival Ferris wheel projects on the drawing boards, although Caesars Entertainment insists upon calling its contraption an "observation wheel." (Are people on regular old Ferris wheels unobservant?) The other, content to consider itself a Ferris wheel, is being developed by local real estate mogul Howard Bulloch, further down the Strip. Both are projected to be ready for riding sometime in 2013.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Howard Stutz describes the site of the Caesars wheel thusly: "The project will be built along a private street that separates the Flamingo and Imperial Palace starting at the Strip and heading back [behind the Las Vegas Monorail] to Audrie Street and Ida Avenue, which will be converted from public to private streets."
The ride itself, called the Las Vegas High Roller, will be a 550-foot-tall Ferris wheel. For $20 or less, you can be one of 40 passengers in any of the High Roller’s 28 globe-shaped gondolas (standing room only). Your ride will take 30-40 minutes. The cost of building the High Roller is unspecified, as it’s part of a $500 million remake of the O’Shea’s/Imperial Palace area into a dining/shopping mall, to be named The Linq. The developer, Caruso Associates, is the creator of Los Angeles’ The Grove mall, upon which The Linq is modeled.
Bulloch’s rival wheel, called Skyvue, is budgeted at anywhere from $100 million to $300 million and set for a height of 476 feet. It also will be appended to a mall, directly across from Mandalay Bay. The wheel will be at right angles to the Strip, so that riders can see both to the north and south throughout their revolution. Early plans for Skyvue call for 40 gondolas carrying 25 passengers each. (As with the High Roller, the idea is to get groups to rent them out so they can have catered parties in the sky.)
MSNBC.com and the R-J differ as to whether Bulloch has the financing in hand and has broken ground. The former says Bulloch does and has … the R-J says he’s still looking for backers. What’s incontestable is that Bulloch has been clearing the site, which involves tearing down the Happi Inn and other aging, low-rise properties. The developer has been trying to put some kind of big-budget project together on the west side of McCarran International Airport for a decade.
Aside from 39 acres of shovel-ready acreage, Bulloch has a giant bearing from an unbuilt Peking wheel, for which the developer paid 840 grand. He also has (metaphorically) brandished letters of intent from interested, would-be tenants. Both Skyvue and the High Roller, incidentally, would be taller than the 443-foot London Eye, the inspiration for both projects.
Caesars says it has as much as $400 million to $500 million "in the bank," which gives it an advantage in terms of viability. However, as Bulloch likes to point out, Skyvue would have clearer sightlines, with only Mandalay Bay impeding the view. The High Roller, by contrast, would be tucked behind the Imperial Palace (which will shortly have to be renamed, the rights to its trademark having expired) and Flamingo Las Vegas. Even Caesars’ own renderings show just the top of the wheel peeping over Flamingo and Imperial Palace hotel towers. In addition to having one’s view of the Strip blocked for much of the ride, to the north riders will be afforded a long look at the backside of the Venetian. The massive bulk of Bally’s Las Vegas will comprise much of the southward-looking view and the land west of the High Roller is dotted with some low-rise slums that Caesars tried to buy from landlord Oscar Nunez, but his price could not be met.
For sheer, unimpeded viewing, at a top price of $16, the Stratosphere Tower will still have both Ferris wheels beaten. The observation deck is approximately 900 feet off the ground you can enjoy it at your leisure. The truly brave can ascend to 1,081 feet if they choose to be catapulted up the Big Shot thrill ride.
There is general agreement on one aspect of the Great Ferris Wheel War. Whoever gets his shovels into the ground first will be the winner. Caesars has a history of getting redevelopments approved (such as a complete re-do of Caesars Palace’s Strip frontage) and then tossing them in a drawer, so it will be interesting to see whether it carries its grand scheme through to airborne fruition.
