Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Wynn project earns OK

Steve Wynn's historic return to the Las Vegas Strip took another step forward Thursday.

The casino entrepreneur credited with leading transformations of Las Vegas with his opening of the Mirage, Treasure Island and Bellagio was licensed for Wynn Las Vegas, a new 2,700-room Strip resort that he says is his best yet.

Wynn hasn't been a presence on the Strip since he closed the Desert Inn in 2000. He acquired the Desert Inn and helped finance construction there of the resort that will bear his name when he sold his Mirage Resorts Inc. to MGM Grand to form what has become one of the powerhouses of the gaming industry.

Approval of licensing was never in doubt. The state Gaming Control Board earlier this month recommended approval of the license after Wynn described his newest Strip dream and detailed how he put together the $2.7 billion he needed to build it.

The only hurdles left to clear are county approvals of various fire and safety systems throughout the building, which are ongoing.

Wynn said the structure is "single safest building on Earth" and that a three-head deluge system to douse flames "would produce a bigger danger of drowning than by burning."

The five-member Gaming Commission, the final authority on the licensing issue in the state, also voted unanimously for it after a 90-minute hearing with the only question mark being which commissioner would deliver the most eloquent remarks about the project.

"I'll have to admit, I had my doubts about a volcano on the Strip, or battling ships or dancing fountains," said Commissioner John Moran. "But I've learned to stop doubting. You're a smart man to have (Wynn's wife) Elaine's fingerprints all over it."

Wynn has long said that his wife has inspired many of the features within the building and that the April 28 opening date is a tribute to her birthday.

"The hardest thing about success is to keep repeating it," said Commissioner Radha Chanderaj. "You've once again brought style and elegance to the Strip."

Commissioner Sue Wagner said Las Vegas taxi drivers are marveling about new building.

"A lot of people don't know a lot about the regulation of the gaming industry, I guess, but they do know who Steve Wynn is," she said. "You've reinvented and reinvented again."

"It's a marvel to behold," said Commissioner Arthur Marshall, who has toured Wynn Las Vegas and said the Time Warner Center in New York's Columbus Circle has some design elements stolen from Wynn's Mirage and Bellagio projects.

Commission Chairman Pete Bernhard used the occasion to remember a mentor who died in 2003.

"Shannon Bybee is smiling today," Bernhard said of the former Gaming Control Board member.

Commissioners asked a few questions about employee diversity, emergency vehicle access to the resort at the Strip and Spring Mountain Road and how the company plans to market its private high roller gaming salons. Wynn also gave a few additional details about the property, saying there is "no place in the building where you can't see natural light or a tree," adding that the building has several atriums.

Wynn said after the vote that he never had any doubt about being licensed, reflecting on how he first appeared before the Gaming Commission for licensing in1967 when he acquired the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas.

"It wasn't like we were tense about the outcome," he told reporters after the hearing.

But there was a little tension after the vote was taken and Wynn and his colleagues had left the chambers.

Black community activists Stan Washington and Gene Collins said they were disappointed that they weren't allowed to address the commission before the vote was taken because they wanted to remind regulators about what they believe to be a spotty record by Wynn on diversity issues.

Collins, who heads the National Action Network, was critical of Wynn's record of hiring minority employees when he headed Mirage Resorts. He said after the company became MGM Mirage it settled an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint for more than $1 million for discriminating against black and Hispanic applicants in 1996 and 1997.

"Even though MGM was left holding the bag, it was Steve Wynn's mess," Collins said.

He and Washington also were critical of Wynn Resorts Ltd.'s failure to hire any subcontractors headed by black business people.

Collins said he had hoped to get a complete disclosure of how many blacks have been hired at Wynn Las Vegas and promises of compliance to EEOC training requirements, the implementation of a diversity plan and the appointment of a black to the board of directors of Wynn Las Vegas.

Wynn officials tried to head off criticisms about diversity during their presentation.

Arte Nathan, who has headed the company's employee recruitment efforts, said hiring so far has been reflective of the Las Vegas community's diversity.

He said the company has received 100,000 applications for 9,500 jobs and about 8,600 people have been contacted with job offers. Of those 8,600, 60 percent are minorities, Nathan said, and 59 percent of all applicants were minorities.

Nathan said 49 percent of the applicants are women as are 48 percent of those offered positions. He said 39percent of the employment pool is over the age of 40 and 40 percent of those offered jobs are over 40.

Nathan said he did not have statistics breaking down how many of the minority applicants or hires are black, Hispanic, Asian or Indian.

He said $4.4 million of the furniture, fixtures and equipment expenditures for the resort went to minority contractors. That's only 3.5 percent of the budget, but Nathan said the number could be higher because not all the contractors chose to be identified with an ethnic profile.

As for representation on the board of directors, Wynn used the forum of the Gaming Commission meeting to criticize board member liability requirements stipulated by the new Sarbanes-Oxley securities rules, which he called "an outrageous overreaction."

"It's become a terrible problem," Wynn said of his efforts to recruit qualified people to serve on hisboard of directors. "You asked me if I'll have more women directors," Wynn said in an answer to a question posed by Wagner. "I hope I'll have directors."

He said two women have declined appointments to the board of directors over personal liability concerns brought about by Sarbanes-Oxley.

Wynn didn't disclose a guest list, but said he plans a charitable event at his new resort on April 27, the evening before the opening of Wynn Las Vegas. At a minute after midnight, he plans to open the doors of the property to the public.

He said with the large crush of people anticipated that night the company may have to limit the number of people entering the building to comply with local firecodes.

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