Economy Halts Two Casino Projects
Monday August 18, 2008
Two weeks ago Boyd Gaming announced that it was halting work its Echelon Place development project on the Las Vegas Strip. The 4.8 billion dollar project began last year with the implosion of the old Stardust casino which stood on the site where the Echelon was to be built.
The plans for the Echelon Place included 5,000 hotel rooms, a 300,000 square foot shopping venue, 750,000 square foot convention center, 140,000 square foot casino, 4,000 seat theater and approximately 30 restaurants and bars. Boyd had hoped that it would rival MGM's City Place which is being built further down on the strip. Boyd cited the present economy for the decision to halt the project for now even though work has been started.
This is not the only project to be KO'd by the present economic slump. Last week the Elad Group, owners of the New York's Plaza Hotel announced that it was postponing its plans to build a multibillion dollar resort on the Las Vegas strip.
Comments
These two projects sit where once stood two icons of Las Vegas, the Stardust, and the New Frontier. Although those properties weren’t pulling down the profits some of the newer mega resorts were, at least they were making money and could have been completely renovated for a fraction of the cost of building the new hotels and casinos, and would have carried an historic name behind them.
Guess those college boys really screwed up this time.