PHOTO : Cosmopolitan towers on the strip ( public domain source)
Management reps of the delayed Cosmopolitan resort project on the Vegas strip recently announced a mid - December 2010 opening date. The official name of the property will be The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas following a trademark lawsuit filed against the project by Hearst Communications, owner of Cosmopolitan magazine. The original intended resort name - The Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino - was objected to by the Hearst company and now all legal issues have now apparently been resolved between the two entities as the suit was settled just last month.
Deutsche Bank assumed ownership of this project at about the halfway point of it's original construction as the original owners exhausted their financing and were forced to bow out of the project. Upon obtaining ownership, Deutsche ordered a complete reconfiguration and design of the property's interior which added considerable time and expense to the project's completion. The new $3.9 billion resort will apparently open with about two-thirds of their total number of planned rooms completed and operational. The balance of the rooms are slated to be finished by July 2011. The hotel's amenities will include a spa, nightclub, 150,000 square feet of convention space, a 70,000 square feet casino, retail stores, three pools, and 2,995 rooms housed in two towers at completion. The property is situated on the heart of the west side strip between City Center and Bellagio and will reportedly provide some breathtaking views of the strip from 100 square feet balconies that are standard with most rooms. These balconies are a rarity in recent Vegas casino construction protocols and may serve as a draw for some Vegas visitors. Future visitors can expect room rates in the $200+ range at the new resort , at least initially. One aspect of the property touted by Cosmopolitan CEO John Unwin is it's relatively small acreage and associated accessibility..it's apparently not far from the casino to the other amenities and room elevators. One design demand initiated by Deutsche was the placement of casino entrances right off the strip with slot machines within close range of walk-in patrons.
PHOTOS : Cosmopolitan towers beside (L) and above (R) Bellagio fountains on the strip (public domain sources )
The addition of almost 3000 Cosmopolitan rooms to the total Vegas room inventory ( 153,000 +) will add further pressure to the ongoing price pressures associated with Vegas lodging rates and in particular with those on the strip. The original marketing of this new property was based on time share condos but that intent has been changed due to economic forces. Revenue generation from the hotel components of the fancy Vegas resorts is a tough accomplishment right now due to the economic situation. No matter how many acrobatic flips and exhaustive marketing pitches (aka City Center in the current and recent past) these properties attempt, the ever-present forces of supply and demand still raise their heads and exert their effects on room pricing. I wish them all well and a change for the positive, as it will be an indicator that the visiting public is on it's way to fiscal recovery.
Cheers...
Charles Higgins
Comments
3000 rooms is a huge hotel project! I am wondering if this will be successful, as the economic recovery seems to be slow going...
Debbra..beats me. Things are tougher in Vegas than they're all letting on..after all, they're all assorted car salesmen out there.Thanks for commenting..and I loved your "naked- cation" article.
Cheers
Whoa, that's a big project! I certainly wouldn't want to be responsible for marketing a $3.9B project in Vegas at this particular point in time. I wish them well. The balconies do sound pretty cool, and that would be a selling point in my decision-making process.
looks good.
Charles, this hotel sounds like it will be worth the wait. Vegas is advertising a lot in our area. Maybe this is a sign of better times and an improving economy. Good story.
Very cool, I am excited to see how this turns out.
Surprised new hotels are opening in this economic climate, let alone one this large. good luck to them.
Wow, they sure are taking a risk on the future economic climate with 3,000 rooms, but I guess Las Vegas is a town to risk it all.
That fountain looks huge. Lie other readers, I wonder if there is a market for another large hotel/casino in Vegas. Aren't there tons of empty rooms now?
Interesting article as always, Charles. Thanks for the info.
I guess they did their market research - there must be a reason to build another hotel in a city of hotels.
As a casino designer a new casino is always welcome. This looks like its going to be a pretty impressive casino. Not only in size but in the location also. Thank you for sharing
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