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Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Sun
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is set to open on the Las Vegas Strip on Dec. 15.
Friday, Dec. 3, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
Sun Coverage
- New Year’s at Cosmopolitan: 1 room, 3 nights, $5,600 (12-2-2010)
- Cosmopolitan launches six-part video series ahead of Las Vegas opening (11-30-2010)
- Cosmopolitan chief reveals more details about new resort (10-28-2010)
- Cosmopolitan's jarring ad aimed at the 'curious class' (10-22-2010)
- Cosmopolitan to fill thousands of openings with virtual job fair (9-28-2010)
- Cosmopolitan CEO plans to steal customers from Strip competitors (8-22-2010)
Workers at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas are busy putting the finishing touches on the resort, with just days left before its debut on the Strip.
Cosmopolitan’s employees were in midst of orientation, restaurant staffs were tasting menus and workers were scrubbing the floors of the valet area on Thursday in anticipation of the hotel-casino’s opening.
At Marquee nightclub/dayclub, which will be the largest in town when it opens New Year’s Eve, workers were finishing the dance floors and testing some of the sound system at the 60,000-square-foot venue.
Situated between the Bellagio and CityCenter, the $3.9 billion, 2,995-room resort will open to the public on Dec. 15, a project that has been more than five years in the making. The Cosmopolitan will celebrate its grand opening on New Year’s Eve with headliners Jay-Z and Coldplay.
Visitors to the Cosmopolitan will find the resort’s signature design elements and pieces from its art collection around every corner, some in plain sight and others tucked away for guests to discover.
Upon entering the resort, guest are greeted by pillars of video boards playing video art by Digital Kitchen and David Rockwell Studio exclusively produced for Cosmopolitan.
They’ll check in at one of Cosmopolitan’s red registration desks, which are seen at the end of the resort’s TV campaign ad. Upstairs, about 2,220 of Cosmopolitan’s 2,995 rooms have 6-foot deep terraces that span the length of the room, a feature that is unique to Strip hotels.
Yards away from the main lobby entrance is Cosmopolitan’s 100,00-square-foot casino floor, where International Game Technology’s server-based games have already been installed.
Blackjack and craps tables sit ready to be played, but one casino amenity gamblers won’t find on opening night is a poker room. Cosmopolitan won’t have one.
In the center of the casino floor sits Cosmopolitan’s literal crown jewel. The Chandelier Bar is a three-tiered bar and lounge encased by 2 million crystals dripping in strands from the ceiling to almost the floor.
A few floors above the casino floor, chefs were training their staffs and workers were uncovering furnishings in some of Cosmopolitan’s 12 restaurants. Most of the resort’s restaurants will sit around a common area, rather than being spread out through the casino like most Strip properties.
In the coming weeks, the resort plans to place furniture and oversized Scrabble boards in the common area between the restaurants, adding to the neighborhood-like feel Cosmopolitan CEO John Unwin has talked about.
And like every neighborhood, there are hideaways that only those in the know are familiar with. Sandwiched between two restaurants and down a corridor covered in old vinyl covers, guests will find an unnamed, unmarked pizza shop.
It’s one the secrets Cosmopolitan has left its guests to uncover when the resort opens in less than two weeks.
Ohboyohboyohboyohboy! This is gonna be so GREAT!
An unnamed, unmarked pizza shop. I wonder how much of the $3.9 billion it took to come up with that idea.
Server slots allow the resort to change games on machines from a central, remote location. I believe they can change the payout scale, too, but not while a player is playing the machine. It makes the machines more versatile. Ah, progress.
Jay-Z and Coldplay? Now that's a weird combo. Then again, mainstream music has been sucking arse since like 2000.
they're still hiring. there are ads for positions in many departments. it makes you wonder why they haven't been able to secure their employment pool two weeks before opening.
Yeah you wont see me spending any of my gambling $$$ on those slots. I like it when I find a machine I like and I can keep coming back to it. You never know what they have done to it on these server games. I wish them the best of luck, but for me, No Thank You.
The 'Cosmo' could not be a more representative phemomenom of the Las Vegas reality!! A prime location, superb, hipe, modern designed Hotel & Casino - and according to the News-foreclosed upon and owned by a bank!! Wish them well!!
Still hiring? I put in an app a while back (October)I must have failed the screening.Good luck to them it looks like a nice place.
vc,
By the sounds of it, this isn't a property designed for you. I got the pleasure of going on a tour a couple weeks ago, and I can tell you - it was designed to be a hotel with a casino, not a casino with a hotel. The rooms are beautiful, and the attention to detail far surpasses anything this city has seen.
Server based slots are already here.... You're in for a treat when this place opens... Take away the gimmicks of the Bellagio (fountains, flowers) and this place blows the Bellagio away.....
jt- they hired almost 5000 employees.. over 95000 applications... it's very very hard to get in... should be.. pay and benefits surpass everything on the strip.
I like that it is an independent property (albeit one owned by a foreclosing bank) and that they appear to not have spared any expense to do it right.
Also, their marketing is interesting and overall it seems to be quite a fashionable place in a great location.
Some possible outcomes in my opinion are that they build it up with momentum and sell it out quickly hoping to break even, which seems tough, or sell it out over time as hopefully the economy improves or after all the early hoopla it settles in for losses and they sell it out for what they can get.
Maybe there are more scenarios, but there is no doubt they are doing all the right things.
If the service is good and they get good reviews, they should give Aria a good walloping.
Maybe MGM will swallow it up over time, if and when they get past their own financial woes.
I wish them luck. It took a lot of guts for a German based bank to finish up this project. It will employ a lot of people. A win win for everyone.
I am just waiting till someone jumps or throws a bottle off the balcony of the cosmo. I think the place will do great but needs to get rid of those areas asap until someone dies