Venetian museums set for Sept. 16 opening

David Strow

Friday, Aug. 3, 2001 | 10:33 a.m.

A pair of much-awaited museums by Russia's State Hermitage Museum and New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation will open at the Venetian Sept. 16.

The $30 million project will consist of two separate museums -- the 63,700-square-foot Guggenheim Las Vegas, featuring "special large-scale exhibitions," and the 7,660-square-foot Hermitage Guggenheim Museum, featuring works of fine art from both the Hermitage and the Guggenheim.

Tickets will cost $15, and will be sold separately for each museum. Student tickets will cost $11; tickets for children 6 to 12 will be $7. Members of the Guggenheim and children under 6 will be admitted for free.

The Guggenheim has previously discussed its first exhibit for the Guggenheim Las Vegas -- "The Art of the Motorcycle," an exhibit featuring more than 130 motorcycles that "explores and celebrates the motorcycle as a quintessential symbol of the Modern Age."

But on Thursday, for the first time, the first exhibit planned for the Hermitage Guggenheim was revealed.

"Masterpieces and Master Collectors: Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings," will run from Sept. 16 through March 17, 2002, and feature 45 masterpieces from both the Hermitage and Guggenheim. The exhibit will include works by Cezanne, Chagall, Kandinsky, Matisse, Monet, Picasso, Renoir and van Gogh. Works will come from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The exhibit has an appraised value of more than $2 billion. By comparison, it cost $1.5 billion to build the Venetian.

"Our intention is to use our permanent collections to create a unique cultural experience," said Mikhail Piotrovski, director of the Hermitage. "We expect to be reaching a new audience, which, after all, is our mission. But the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum is also a new platform from which we can exercise our scholarship, establish a new model for cultural collaboration, and continue to fulfill our original mission."

"Today the profile of a typical Las Vegas visitor increasingly approximates the profile of the visitors upon which every major museum in the world -- including the Hermitage and the Guggenheim -- depends, and to which they communicate," said Thomas Krens, director of the Guggenheim. "To locate a Russian-American cultural joint venture in the fastest-growing city in the U.S., and perhaps the world -- this notion stimulates the mind."

And it should also stimulate business for the Venetian.

"In the casino business, you try to find hooks to draw the customer," said Andrew Zarnett, gaming analyst with Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. "The motorcycle exhibit is one of the best hooks I've heard of in quite some time," one that should draw both high-end and mass market customers, he said.

The primary benefit to the Venetian should come by boosting foot traffic at the resort, which in turn will boost gambling revenues, Zarnett said. He estimated the effect of the two museums could add $5 million to $10 million in cash flow per year, an increase of 3 percent to 6 percent over current levels.

"That's a terrific return on their investment," Zarnett said.

The Venetian also recently announced it has tentative plans to finance a second project -- the addition of a 1,000-room hotel tower on top of its parking garage. Once complete in late 2002, it will give the Venetian just over 4,000 rooms.

The new hotel tower and an 800-space parking garage will cost $155 million. In addition, the Venetian will build 150,000 square feet of conference center space at a cost of $30 million.

The Venetian's parent company, Las Vegas Sands Inc., said it expects to finance the project with free cash flow, $65 million in new financing, and by deferring principal payments on its existing credit lines for two years.

"They already have very strong demand for their rooms, both in convention and free and independent traveler business," Zarnett said. "They should be able to fill those rooms and maintain existing occupancy."