Steve Wynn‘s next big project won’t be in Japan … or Philadelphia … or Boston. According to the tycoon, his “next goal in life” will be to open a Singapore megaresort. Yeah, the same Singapore out of which Wynn bailed when the first round of “integrated resorts” was being bid out, mid-decade. Which means that Goal Number #1 for Wynn Resorts is a good six years off, by which time $5.7 billion Marina Bay Sands will almost surely have broken even, and both it and Resorts World Sentosa will be well established and profitable.
This is one of those cases where the race was to the swift and Wynn’s hesitancy now leaves him hankering after Sheldon Adelson‘s table scraps. He says he’s “dying” to get into Singapore. CPR will be administered on the casino floor of Marina Bay Sands this week.
Maloof outmaneuvered. As expected Palms Casino Resort President George Maloof (left, with friends) is putting the best face he can on the loss of 98% of his trend-setting spot to private-equity funds Texas Pacific Group (co-0wner of Caesars Entertainment) and Leonard Green & Partners. If the latter sounds familiar, it’s the firm that offered to buy MGM Resorts International‘s half of Borgata, then left MGM hanging. Maloof remains nominally at the helm and his family has the option to buy back an additional 18% of the resort. News coverage to date hasn’t addressed the all-important issue of a management contract … the prospect of Caesars getting its clammy grip on the place. Chalk up one more victim for the foolish condo-hotel craze.
Adios, Aliante. Emerging from bankruptcy as a limited-liability company, Station Casinos will also be jettisoning Aliante Station. The tradeoff eliminates hundreds of millions in debt, Station will also take a $284 million bath on the North Las Vegas white elephant.
True, with a 45% share of the company, the Fertitta Brothers could create a great deal of mischief by playing one creditor faction against another. However, the abandonment of a development slate so hubristic (Viva, Richfield Village, Losee Station, Castaways Station) it looked zany even in a good economy suggests the chastening effect Chapter 11 has had on the company. Station’s still making capital expenditures, but of the sort that bolster the performance of its core properties, not chasing phantoms.
“Curbside” bus operators are enjoying a comeback, a resurgence in business that will connect many casino markets (and potential markets) on the East Coast. Prospects for the Southwest are much sketchier, leaving open the question of how clotted highway access to Las Vegas will be relieved. Is there demand, for instance, to link Los Angeles‘ Chinatown with its much smaller Vegas equivalent?
Mr. Maloof had done a really good job with The Palms until he decided to (unfortunately) build Palms Place. Back in 2005-2006 the condo craze took over Las Vegas and some casino companies and other independent multimillionaires attempted to build condominiums. Most companies did not build anything, and the ones that got built did not sell many condominiums.
Actually in Chicago (where I live) there was a very cool condominium project called the Chicago Spire that could not get financing and was never built. The Chicago Spire would have looked great in the Chicago skyline.