K. Wynn: Design will raise the bar

By Liz Benston

Friday, Nov. 1, 2002 | 11:19 a.m.

Wynn Resorts Ltd.'s upcoming Le Reve will not be another Bellagio -- a casino resort that single-handedly raised the bar for megaresorts in Las Vegas, Steve Wynn's brother, Kenneth, told a crowd of developers, planners and other land use experts gathered at The Venetian hotel-casino in Las Vegas Thursday.

As Steve Wynn impressed observers at a groundbreaking ceremony for Le Reve at the Desert Inn site, Kenneth Wynn addressed questions about intensifying competition on the Strip and future resort development at a panel session hosted by the Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit advisory group.

Le Reve will be as different from the Bellagio as the Mirage was from Caesars Palace when the tropical-themed megaresort opened in 1989, said Wynn, who is leading the planning of Le Reve as President of Wynn Design & Development.

"We believe that Le Reve is a next generation resort," he said.

The property will strike a balance between classic luxury that appeals to older, well-heeled customers and hip surroundings favored by people in their 20s and 30s, he said.

"We believe that's a large component of Mandalay Bay's success," said Wynn, referring to the popular flagship resort owned by Mandalay Resort Group at the Strip's southern entrance.

Younger patrons may not have the spending power of their older counterparts but can be cultivated as long-term customers, he noted.

Wynn Resorts is working with Jacques Garcia -- a famed design expert in France -- to create the right touch, he said.

Garcia is the designer behind the L'Hotel and Hotel Costes, elaborately decorated Paris hotels that are popular with show business and fashion industry types.

Among the hotel's features will be a restaurant that morphs into a disco for nighttime entertainment.

Le Reve will achieve a more "intimate" feel than the typical megaresort by shrinking the distances between the property's various features, Wynn said.

In another break with convention, some of the outdoor attractions won't be visible from the Strip sidewalk, requiring customers to enter the resort in order to experience them, he said.

"We've pitched the activity inward."

The property is aimed at high-end customers and won't be affected by upgrades at lower-end properties, he added.

"The top ten places will remain that way. It's the more tired, older properties that are going to drop farther down the list" as new competition emerges, he said.

The rate of resort growth over the next several years in Las Vegas won't be nearly as large as the building boom that more than doubled the number of rooms on the Strip over the past decade, Las Vegas-based casino architect Joel Bergman said.

"We'll see a different kind of product" in the future, however, said Bergman, chief executive officer of Bergman, Walls & Associates Ltd. and the architect behind Paris Las Vegas and a host of other major resorts.