[toc]Wynn Resorts’ proposed Paradise Park project in Las Vegas, Nevada took a step forward after the company’s board approved plans for the $1.5 billion facility.
CEO Steve Wynn announced the company was moving forward on the project earlier this year. It is the latest in a series of luxury casino projects on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip.
Centerpiece of Paradise Park will be 20-acre lagoon
A 130-acre golf course situated behind the existing Wynn and Encore Casinos is the site for the project. The centerpiece of Paradise Park will be a 20-acre lagoon with surrounding boardwalk. The plans also include several white sand beaches, cabanas, and lagoon-front restaurants.
There will also be meeting and convention space. Additionally, there are plans for a tower, which could house over 1,000 additional hotel rooms.
One notable omission from the plans is any sort of gaming. Wynn wants Paradise Park to be a family-friendly place. During the first quarter earnings call where Wynn announced the plans, he compared elements of the site to Disneyland.
Construction should begin towards the end of the year.
Why expand Wynn’s Las Vegas presence?
Much of the money for the new Paradise Park project is from the company’s cash windfall after a huge fourth quarter in Macau last year. The new Wynn Palace property opened there in August of last year. So far, it is a success.
Rather than expand in foreign markets like Macau, Wynn is happy to reinvest in Vegas. He elaborated during the earnings call.
“We have no better use for our money. We keep $1.5 billion or $2 billion in the parent company and this would allow us to take the most conservative, but the most dynamic approach to creating this.”
Wynn has great non-gaming casino revenue track record
Paradise Park is just the latest in a series of non-gaming innovations from Wynn. Ever since he opened the Mirage Casino in 1989, Wynn’s business decisions helped transform the Strip from solely a gambling destination to an entertainment mecca. As a result, roughly two-thirds of Vegas casino revenue now comes from non-gaming sources.
Wynn properties excel at this strategy and Wynn continues to dedicate resources to growing that side of the business on the Strip. Wynn and Encore continue to draw in customers with high-end retail and restaurants as well as innovative night clubs.
The properties are not known for offering much for families though. Paradise Park aims to correct this. In some ways, the venue faces stiff competition. Resorts World is in the midst of massive construction on a similar casino resort across the street. Moreover, the high-end SLS Resort opened on the north end of the Strip in 2014.
What will set this venture apart is the family angle. These luxury resorts cater almost exclusively to an adult crowd. While the Circus Circus Casino is in the same area of the Strip as Wynn and the SLS, the property definitely markets to families on a budget.
It remains to be seen if a luxury family-oriented Vegas resort will be Wynn’s next great casino innovation, but the company is willing to bet big that it will be.
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