ters, owners and operators of World Market Center Las Vegas, has broken ground on construction of The Expo at World Market Center Las Vegas, a new 315,000-sq.ft. exhibition facility, scheduled to open in summer 2020 in downtown Las Vegas. The new Expo at World Market Center Las Vegas will feature 194,785 gross sq.ft. of exhibit space, which is divisible into two halls—North with 97,684 gross sq.ft. and South with 97,101 gross sq.ft.—which can accommodate up to 1,000 booths. The Expo at World Market Center Las Vegas will feature an expansive lobby area, registration area, onsite shuttle bus depot, attached parking garage and two permanent “grab and go” food service areas. Construction is scheduled to begin fully in April and the grand opening is expected for IMC’s Summer 2020 Las Vegas Market, a semi-annual marketplace for the gift and home furnishings industries. Outside of the January and July Las Vegas Market dates, The Expo at World Market Center Las Vegas will host tradeshows, as well as corporate and private events. The MSG Sphere The new project is being built in partnership between The Madison Square Garden Company and Las Vegas Sands Corporation, just east of the Venetian. The project is designed by Populous, an architecture firm with offices around the world. A new Las Vegas monorail station will be built to serve the MSG @ExhibitCityNews
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Sphere and The Venetian. The spherical music venue is set to have an 18,000-person capacity with a sound system built to deliver sound through the floorboards. Bars, private suites, a museum and retail space are also planned at the venue. The most unusual feature of the project will be the LED screens on both the interior and exterior, which will allow for spectacular displays inside. The exterior of the venue is set to feature a 360-degree IMAX display which will allow those who are outside of the venue to see what is going on inside. While its primary use will be as a music venue, each of the seats will be equipped with high speed internet access making it a unique venue for meetings and presentations. Well, not quite unique. An identical venue is set to be built in London. MSG Sphere LV is set to open in 2021. Circa Resort & Casino It’s been many years since a casino has been built from the ground up on Fremont Street. Circa Resort & Casino is being built on the block at the west end of the Fremont Street Experience, replacing The Las Vegas Club, the Topless Girls of Glitter Gulch and the Mermaids Casinos. Neon sign enthusiasts will be happy to learn that Vegas Vicky, the cowgirl who shared the street with Vegas Vic, will be on display in the lobby in the new casino. The casino is being designed by Steelman Partners, an international architectural firm headquartered in Las Vegas (and pictured on this month’s ECN cover).
Appropriately, Circa will have 777 guest rooms, five restaurants, a two-level casino and, according to owners Derek and Greg Stevens, “the largest sports book in Las Vegas.” The rooftop deck and amphitheater with six swimming pools and a 125-foot screen are likely to be the site of many special events. It is expected to open in December 2020.
Stratosphere. Steven Witkoff, chairman and CEO of the Witkoff Group, which bought the property last year and partnered with Marriott, told the Associated Press there are plans for a pedestrian bridge to the nearby LVCC expansion. Two Blackbirds Hospitality will oversee the launch and operations of The Drew Las Vegas, opening in 2020.
Resorts World Las Vegas The Genting Group plans to open the new casino and resort on the 87-acre former site of the Stardust Casino and the long-stalled Echelon Place. Like the Circa Casino, it is designed by Steelman Partners. Resorts World Las Vegas is set to be a $4 billion integrated resort with a Chinese theme. The property is set to have 100,000 sq.ft. of gaming space, retail locations, a top-tier nightlife venue, 150,000 sq.ft. of convention space and a 3,200-seat theater. It is set to open in 2020.
The Las Vegas Stadium Stadiums in the Las Vegas resort corridor were a longtime pipe dream of Vegas developers, but when the T-Mobile Arena opened in 2016, it proved it could be done. The Las Vegas Stadium is being built just west of the Strip behind Mandalay Bay and just west of I-15, the major freeway that generally hinders the expansion of the resort corridor westward. When it completed, it is slated to be the new home of the NFL’s Raiders (barring Oakland fans’ attempts to block the move), along with the UNLV football team and presumably, many convention and exhibition-related special events. Designed by MANICA Architecture, a Kansas City, Mo.based architecture firm, the 10-level, domed stadium is set to hold 65,000 seats and have a silver and black exterior and large, retractable, curtain-like side windows facing The Strip. It is also set to have a clear roof made of Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE), a plastic designed to have high corrosion resistance and strength over a wide temperature range, an important factor with the city’s triple digit summers. It is set to open in 2020.
The Drew Las Vegas Also just next door to the LVCC expansion, the Las Vegas Fontainebleau casino project, which stalled in 2009, is getting another chance. Marriott International plans to turn it into a 4,000-room resort and casino called The Drew Las Vegas that will have more than 500,000 sq.ft. of convention and meeting space on the 24-acre site. It will be a combination of Marriott’s EDITION brand and The Strip’s first JW Marriott. The 68-story blue glass tower, designed by Carlos Zapata Studio, is the second-tallest building in Nevada, after the
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