Venetian pushes opening back to May 2

Gary Thompson and Richard N. Velotta

Wednesday, April 7, 1999 | 11:15 a.m.

The $1.5 billion Venetian hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip now plans to open no later than May 2 despite continued building inspection issues, executives said today.

The announcement came after a Clark County building inspector said Tuesday that walls between suites at the Venetian can be fixed to conform with safety guidelines.

Venetian President William Weidner said the mandated repairs were not reponsible for the latest change in the scheduled opening of the 3,036-room hotel-casino, originally set for April 14.

Three weeks ago, resort officials issued a statement saying they expected the property to open April 21, with some rooms available as early as April 14.

"We are doing the fixes voluntarily," he said. "We'll do it and do it on time. There will be no delay to the opening."

Building inspectors have ordered contractors at the resort to install and seal fire-proof pads behind each electrical outlet in the hotel's suites before the county issues a certificate of occupancy.

The county also issued a new correction notice Tuesday requiring that fireproof putty be installed around bathroom fixtures in each suite.

Construction experts estimated that, because of the number of electrical outlets and plumbing fixtures involved, it would take at least two weeks to complete the corrections.

But Weidner said today guests can begin booking rooms now for May 2 and beyond.

"In the next week to 10 days," he said, "they may be able to book rooms (even earlier) in April."

Weidner also said the resort expects to employ 4,000 workers at the opening. He said about 1,000 are on payroll now.

Weidner said technical supervisory employees will undergo a three- to four-month training period, while training for technical hourly workers such as desk clerks and cashiers will last six to eight weeks. Training for less technical positions should take one to two weeks, he said.

The Venetian executive said 15 to 20 of the resort's retail shops would be open by May 2, with a total of 40 to 45 open by May 14. There are 65 retail outlets in the resort's shopping mall.

Weidner also said six of the Venetian's eight casino-floor restaurants and two of five dining areas in the mall should be open by May 2. About 2,900 of the resort's 3,036 suites are expected to be open May 2, with the remainder on the two top floors still receiving finishing touches.

He said the pool should open by mid-May and the Canyon Ranch spa by May 25.

$159 price quote

A Venetian room reservations clerk on Tuesday quoted a mid-May room rate of $159 a night.

Ron Lynn, assistant director of the county's building inspection agency, said Tuesday that results from a fire-safety test conducted on a sample Venetian wall last week indicated the corrections would pass Uniform Building Code guidelines.

The test was conducted at a Cottage Grove, Minn., fire-safety lab operated by Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Corp. under guidelines mandated by Underwriters Laboratories. The results were forwarded to county building inspectors.

"I have the data in front of me and it looks satisfactory," Lynn said Tuesday. "The way I'm reading it, we just have to make sure all the fire pads are put in behind each electrical outlet and a seal is completed."

Lynn said the safety test was conducted on a sample wall "reflective of the worst-possible-case wall at the Venetian, one with three outlet boxes on each side as close together as the closest boxes at the site."

The county had issued a correction notice on the electrical outlets after a former employee of Lehrer McGovern Bovis Inc. filed a suit in federal court alleging boxes on opposite walls were placed too close together.

While the International Conference of Building Officials confirmed that the boxes didn't comply with a UBC rule requiring the outlets to be separated by at least 24 inches, county inspectors said the walls could be fixed by installing adequate fireproofing materials.

In initial UL tests, a sample Venetian wall contained no outlet boxes or other "membrane penetrations" that could impact fire resistivity. The latest test, Lynn said, was on a wall containing outlet boxes less than 24 inches apart but with fire padding behind them.

Lynn also confirmed that the county had also issued a correction notice Tuesday requiring that fireproof putty be installed around plumbing fixtures in bathrooms of the resort's suites.

Simultaneous repairs

"The penetration on the plumbing raises the same issue," Lynn said, "so we figure if we're going to be there to inspect the electrical outlet fixes, this should be done simultaneously."

A county building inspector will be on site to ensure the corrections are made. In an earlier statement, LMB said it had installed fire pads behind "each and every" outlet box. County inspectors found that was not the case.

Venetian officials confirmed last week that the resort had "walked," or switched room reservations, for about 900 to 1,000 visitors who'd booked suites at the property for mid- to late April.

A spokeswoman for the National Association of Broadcasters, which opens one of the city's largest conventions on April 17, said today it had planned its show anticipating that the Venetian wouldn't be open.

"The NAB didn't encourage any companies to stay there because we weren't sure about whether they'd be ready," Anne Marie Cumming, a spokeswoman for the show, said.

The Venetian isn't on NAB's list of convention host hotels.

"If any attendees had reservations that had to be changed, they did that on their own," Cumming said.

She said organizers project more delegates to attend than last year, when nearly 105,000 were in Las Vegas for the broadcast industry's largest gathering.

Other conventions

Two other convention organizers were told the Venetian would be open on different days.

Aaron Bradshaw, a spokesman for the National OTC Beauty Industry Show scheduled April 25-26 at the Sands Expo Center, said his organization was told the Venetian would open May 2.

Bradshaw said the convention had about 200 rooms booked for the convention and delegates instead would be moved to the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino.

"The people at the Sands have always treated us right. We couldn't say a bad thing about the way we've been treated," Bradshaw said, adding that his group was promised comparable lodging to that of the Venetian.

The show, which will draw about 5,000 delegates, is an exhibition of beauty products including cosmetics, hair, nail and skin care and tanning products.

Paul Stratton, a spokesman for the International Wireless Communications Expo scheduled April 28-30 has had shows at the Sands Expo Center in the past and has negotiated future shows beginning in 2001. But this year's show and the 2000 exhibition have been shifted to the Las Vegas Convention Center, with the Las Vegas Hilton listed as the host hotel.

Stratton said his company, Intertec Expositions, which produces trade shows for the themed lighting industry as well as for wireless communications, was told on Tuesday that the Venetian would open on April 28.

Because the show, which will draw 10,000 people, is planned at the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Hilton this year, there was no need to move delegates from the Venetian, Stratton said.

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