So much for my crystal ball. Two projects that I openly doubted are now close to fruition and a third is showing fitful signs of life. (Another, Howard Bulloch‘s Ferris wheel, appears to be being 
dismantled.) Yesterday, SLS Las Vegas announced Labor Day Weekend as its opening date. The cost of the project is holding steady at $415 million, leading me to speculate that the most rearward of the hotels won’t on line at opening. That’s OK. There will plenty else to see and do. Sam Nazarian‘s SBE Entertainment will run all the amenities, enabling SBE to capture revenue across the food, entertainment and gambling platforms. (There’s still no sign of Nazarian having applied for a gaming license but the presence of Wynn Resorts veteran Rob Oseland hardly suggests that the casino will be outsourced, as it was in the Nazarian/Sahara era.)
Despite much skepticism and opprobrium, Nazarian is making good on a public promise that followed the Sahara’s closing. Further down the Strip, Caesars Entertainment has been lighting up and testing the Vegas High Roller, setting off a fair amount of attendant excitement. Depending on the price point for riding this Ferris wheel, I am now convinced that it bids fair to be one of the Strip’s most popular tourist attractions — possibly the biggest since the Bellagio fountains. People to whom I talk (there are a few) are very jazzed about it, particularly as part of Linq. I’m still skeptical about the quality some of the High Roller’s sightlines but they’re much better than we were led to believe prior to construction.
Somewhat less certain are prospects for the X Train, which will now run as a charter service, debuting in May. “We’ve become part of a growing segment of the rail industry, the private rail car market,” said COO Penny Stegeman, putting the best face on events. The X Train will piggyback onto Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains. It’ll be a fancy fleet of 20 cars, eventually, upon which you can devour ceviche, etc., sample specialty cocktails and engage in role-play murder mystery games. It’s projected to be a sporadic, six-hour excursion, one that dumps you off way, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay up there on industrial Craig Road. The nearest casino, The Cannery, has signed on as a partner. Ditto lone wolves the Hard Rock Hotel, Tropicana Las Vegas and Golden Nugget. Planet Hollywood is the only big-shot casino to affiliate with the X Train. With $198 round-trip fares and a very expensive-sounding business model, I still am dubious of the viability of this.
