Details announced on Maloof’s new Las Vegas hotel-casino

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2000 | 11:24 a.m.

The Maloof family of Las Vegas today revealed details about the Palms, a previously announced resort hotel slated to open in December 2001 on Flamingo Road across from the Rio and the Gold Coast hotel-casinos.

The $265 million property, aimed at both locals and tourists, will open with 470 rooms. The most distinctive feature of the property will be a 40-story tower with a "sensual curved shape." By comparison, the neighboring Rio tower is 41 stories.

"Together with its neighbors, the Rio and the Gold Coast, this collective nucleus will reinforce the Flamingo/I-15 corridor as the next major off-Strip district of Las Vegas," the family said in a statement.

The property will feature a 95,000-square-foot casino, complete with 2,400 slot machines and 55 table games. Two of the most distinctive entertainment offerings include a 1,200 seat multi-use entertainment venue and an IMAX theater, the first in Las Vegas to open away from the Strip.

Also planned are a 10,000-square-foot banquet and conference facility, a three-story, 18,000-square-foot spa and salon, a 14-screen movie theater, an arcade, six restaurants and a "cutting-edge" bar.

Restauranteurs signed up for the Palms include Raymond Visan, creator of the Buddha Bar at Paris Las Vegas; Andre Rochat, a Las Vegas French restaurant operator; Garduno's Mexican Restaurant, which operates a popular restaurant at the Fiesta; Michael Morton and Scott DeGraff, creators of Nine -- The Steakhouse in Chicago; and Dennis Berkowitz. Other tenants include Brenden Theater Corp. and celebrity salon operator Laurent DuFourg.

The Palms' French restaurant and bar will be located on the top floor of the 40-story tower.

The resort will feature "rustic, natural materials, honey-colored lighting, earth-toned colors, landscaped trellises, wood floors and patterned carpeting," all designed to bring to mind a beach resort and garden setting. The pool area will be lined with bamboo cabanas, outdoor restaurants and a poolside bar.

The Palms was designed by architect Jerde Partnership International of Los Angeles, the designer of the Bellagio, the entrance and pirate-ship battle at Treasure Island, and the Fremont Street Experience. KGA Architecture is the executive architect.

The $132 million contract to build the resort was awarded to Perini Building Co. of Las Vegas, developer of the 1999 expansion of the Fiesta.

The Maloof family, whose holdings include the NBA's Sacramento Kings, is best known in Las Vegas as the owner of the Fiesta hotel-casino in North Las Vegas. The Maloofs are selling that property to Station Casinos Inc. for $185 million, a deal that should close early next year.

Station is a 6 percent partner in the Palms, as is Greenspun Corp. of Las Vegas. The Greenspun family owns the Las Vegas Sun.

Though construction has already begun on the Maloof project, a groundbreaking ceremony was scheduled to be held at the site at noon today.