Hyatt Regency plans a soft opening

Friday, Dec. 17, 1999 | 11:42 a.m.

The $150 million Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas hotel-casino plans a soft opening today.

Mark Heinzelman, general manager, says employees, construction workers and some local leaders will be on hand for the ribbon cutting. But the grand opening will be Jan. 14 for the 496-room hotel that will have a 9,000-square-foot casino with 191 slots and 11 table games.

Heinzelman told the state Gaming Commission Thursday in Carson City that the resort will have the distinction of opening in both centuries.

And it's a European style project. Customers won't have to walk through the casinos to get to various parts of the resort. There will be a window in the casino so players can see outside.

Heinzelman said there still won't be any clocks in the casino -- a tradition that has been followed by the vast majority if not all Nevada hotels.

It plans to cater to locals, conventions and group meetings. There is 40,000 square feet of meeting space inside, 40,000 square feet outside and a grand ballroom.

The hotel-casino is part of the $5 billion Lake Las Vegas development, whose principals are Texas billionaires Sid and Lee Bass. Others are Woodbine Development Co. and Cook Inlet Region Inc.

The hotel-casino is on the lakefront and surrounded by a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course. The gambling will be run by the Hyatt Corp., which has casinos at Incline Village and Lake Tahoe in Nevada; and in Indiana, Illinois and Toronto.

Individuals licensed by the gaming commission Thursday were Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman and president of HCC Corp., Nicholas Pritzker as director, Harold Samuel Handelsman as vice president and Heinzelman.

Steve Sterrett will be casino manager and he has applied to be licensed.