Conrad luxury hotel set for Strip

Friday, Feb. 13, 2004 | 10:53 a.m.

Details will be announced next week on a 442-room all-suite nongaming hotel on the site of the former La Concha Motel that will carry Hilton Hotels Corp.'s Conrad luxury brand.

Las Vegas-based Majestic Resorts and Hilton Hotels Corp., Beverly Hills, Calif., on Wednesday will unveil plans for a two-tower complex that would include the second-tallest structure in Las Vegas, said developer and Majestic owner Lorenzo Doumani.

Doumani said the $250 million Majestic Las Vegas project on the Las Vegas Strip would include a hotel, a separate condominium tower as well as a restaurant-retail component.

The La Concha Motel, a landmark on the Strip with its distinctive shell-shaped sign, became an icon when it opened in 1961. Designed by famed Los Angeles architect Paul Revere Williams, the La Concha was demolished in December to make way for the new resort.

Doumani inherited the 5.4-acre property from his father, former Tropicana hotel-casino landlord Ed Doumani, several years ago. Lorenzo Doumani said details about Majestic's relationship with Hilton and the role the hotel company would have in the development of the property would be explained at Wednesday's announcement.

Hilton is the parent company for several hotel brands, including Conrad Hotels, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hampton Inn and Hampton Inns & Suites, Hilton Direct, Hilton Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations Club and Homewood Suites by Hilton.

A Hilton spokesman confirmed Thursday that the Majestic project would incorporate the Conrad brand and said details of the company's participation in the project would be spelled out next week.