Hotel-casino spending $20 million on Guggenheim

Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2000 | 11:09 a.m.

The parent company of the Venetian disclosed plans to spend $20 million on the construction of an art exhibition hall for the Guggenheim Foundation of New York.

The anticipated cost of the project was disclosed in the quarterly report of Las Vegas Sands Inc., filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 63,000-square-foot hall, being built between the Venetian and its parking garage, is slated to open in spring 2001.

Las Vegas Sands is also building an 8,000-square-foot exhibition center in the front of the Venetian to house works of art from the State Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg, Russia. However, Las Vegas Sands said it could not determine the cost of this center at this time.

Company officials have previously said they plan to pay for the centers with cash flow from the Venetian.

The Venetian also reitterated that it is considering the addition of a 1,000-room hotel tower on top of the resort's parking garage that "would require the company to incur additional indebtedness." However, the company said it has yet to set a budget for such a project, and said no funding agreements have been reached.