It was back at the end of April last year when South Point announced that it was building a $30 million bowling center with a view to staging big-league bowling events and providing an "unrivaled destination" for bowling fans. Construction began in May, with a anticipated opening before year's end.
The facility is being built on the back of a 12-year deal for Las Vegas to host several annual USBC events, including the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships and USBC Women’s Championships, both citywide and inside the new addition at South Point, which itself is scheduled to host seven Championship events through 2023 (perhaps compensating, in part, for the departure of the National Finals Rodeo, if that possibility comes to pass after 2014).
Of course, as with so many other projects in 2013, this time-frame proved to be optimistic for the bowling facility and when we called the property in December during the course of compiling our annual Report Card for the January issue of the LVA newsletter, a tradition in which we give a status round-up of recently completed, ongoing, and future construction projects around town, we were informed that the facility was still under construction, with no estimated completion date. We called back yesterday and were informed that the bowling center now will not be ready until 2015.
It's an interesting move by the locals casino, which has from the outset carved a deliberate niche for itself as an events destination. The Gaughan family, which owns the property, has strong ties to the equine world and when the casino debuted as Southcoast, back in 2005, a major feature was the Equestrian Center, which has since hosted multiple high-profile events. It also opened with a 64-lane bowling alley, which will remain in operation after the new facility is completed. The latter will include more than 60 lanes featuring the latest bowling technology, plus a tournament-registration area, bowler’s squad room, and modern locker facilities.
