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COURTESY OF CAESARS ENTERTAINMENT
This 2009 artist’s rendering, looking east from Caesars Palace, shows the planned corridor between O’Sheas and the Flamingo.
Published Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011 | 1:44 p.m.
Updated Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011 | 4:55 p.m.
The Greek villa is one of three at Caesars Palace's Octavius Tower and is nearly 10,000 square feet. Shown here is the master bathroom.
Caesars Entertainment announced today that it is seeking funding to complete the unfinished Octavius Tower at Caesars Palace and to begin development on a retail and entertainment plaza on the Strip.
The company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it is seeking $400 million in financing to complete the projects.
Caesars Entertainment delayed the opening of the $1 billion, 660-room tower in January 2009, citing the strain the economic downturn had put on hotel demand in Las Vegas. The Octavius Tower was scheduled to open in summer 2009.
The resort did, however, open three, $40,000 per night pool villas last spring at the base of the tower.
The filing indicated that the $400 million in financing will also be used to develop what has be dubbed internally as "Project Linq," an area of bars, shops and restaurants between Flamingo and O’Shea’s on the Strip.
Caesars Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman told Bloomberg in June that the company planned to build the project in 2011 and it would cost “a lot less” than the $1 billion project the company envisioned in 2006.
Renderings of the project in 2009 show the entertainment plaza running down the alley between the two casinos with a Ferris wheel at the end.
The filing did not list a completion date for the projects.
Caesars Entertainment is scheduled to report its fourth quarter earnings Friday.
Please don't let them build that hideous ferris wheel. This is not Europe.
Signs of life.
I'm sure they will be lining up for that...not.
There's still money to be "had" out there if you have the right connections..Wall Street must just love the fee's and all..!
Are they insane? In this economy?
Perfectly sensible decision if you are expecting the economy to improve next year and improve your position in the market. The have a pile of bricks, that cost hundreds of millions and earns no income. For $400 million more they get 600 new rooms and start earning some return on the pile of bricks. They have Celine back.
Now they can compete with the Cosmo, which is taking business from everyone.
What a mess. You probably can't even see the Ferris Wheel from the strip.It would help to get rid of IP and possibly Flamingo. Instead of finishing Octavius, maybe they should do that.
Lot of thoughts spewing out of my head about right now... 1) oShea's never looked so good as it does in this rendering. 2) I have been down that alley before and it is not that big, I think it might be a bit crammed. 3) Don't really think the economy is quite ready for this yet. Maybe it would be best to pay down some of your billion dollar debt. 4) and finally, leave the Flamingo alone, it is a historical icon but cleaning up the backside is cool.
First the Amusement Park(Carnival) across from Mandalay Bay, now a Giant Observation Wheel. Are we going back to Family Friendly or do we just not have a clue? An Indoor/Outdoor Waterpark complete with a wave pool, water roller coaster and all the other amenities of a Great Waterpark is what's needed. A real Amusement Park with major attractions will be good too. When Gas hits $ 7.00 a gallon lots of people in Las Vegas will be looking for Non-Casino things to do, And Visitors will be reluctant to come because there is nothing for their teens to do. Lots of room near the speedway and Las Vegas Blvd. Just run an Express Bus from the strip.
Ignoring their $20 billion dollars in debt, plus whatever debt they take on to acquire the Palms, I'm having a hard time figuring out who would trust these guys to pay them back??
Vegas, you gotta' love it...
There is a flaw with the diagram for the planned corridor. First on the left is the parking garage entrance to Osheas and on the right is the truck frieght dock for the Flamingo.
But if Ceasars is willing we'd be happy to accelerate their approval for the funding request.
Throwing good money after bad. The Strip is flooded with over-capacity as it is, and this would only worsen the cannibalism.
Not that this would necessarily be bad for us, locally. I think the *net* effect will be negligible. The real problem this speaks to, is just how broken our country's financial system is. Wall Street continues to bankroll illegitimate projects, because the decision-makers are not held responsible for the ultimate failure of their actions. Huge fees and bonuses are made on the front end. The free-marketeers out there are blind to just how flawed our system has become. The market does NOT allocate capital in the most efficient, wisest manner. That hasn't happened for about 15 years, now.
I wonder how many of those $40,000 a night villas are being filled at full shot? My bet;none!
The smartest business on the strip is O'Sheas. Not a lot of overhead, great location & people are in there drinking & gambling. Unlike Caesars-they understand that this is Las Vegas-not Branson Missouri.
Harrah's, um I mean, Caesars, sure has a thing for ferris wheels. First they wanted to build one at the Rio (anyone remember that?), and now one here. I just don't get the obsession...
Let them build it, it will give work to the construction workers, and when done it will give work to our citizens, I hope. Does Caesars still employ illegals?
I doubt the FAA will let them build that wheel there,either.
Mr. Loveman, before you sign for another marker like a tapped out gambler in one of your establishments, to finance your "Wheel of Fortune", please realize that Caesars should not be leveraging itself up like a too big to fail bank. A federal bailout will unlikely be forthcoming. If this investment is so good why not pay cash as opposed to the high rate that you will end up paying due to Caesars allready astronomical debt burden.
How about finishing the monorail out to the airport so folks can fly in and get directly to the strip? I think many more folks would use that...
Gee, poor Ceasars needs $400 million to do....what.
The United States needs $400 million. Who should get the money:
Ceasars to put in more hotel rooms????
Or the government so people don't end up living in tents all across the country?? (or maybe all those empty Vegas hotel rooms can house the future homeless)
Det. Munch, Caesars doesn't finance the government. Like I said above if Caesars can get some new construction going this will put some people back to work to build the buildings. The new buildings will put more people to work too.
Trisaurus, you make an excellent point as well. The FAA doesn't want to be explaining why they let it be built, if God forbid, some aircraft arriving or departing out of McCarran hits the freaking thing. I know from personal experience that they are very touchy about the flight path coming in and out of there. It must have been about 5 years ago when I was departing out of North Las Vegas in a Maule M-8 (similar to the M-7) tail dragger heading to California. Anyway rather than giving me the standard VFR departure to the west, they had me fly down the strip at about 2000 or 2500 feet, I forget which, (that was surreal looking down at all the casinos on the Strip from that altitude), then they vectored me over the departure end of McCarran and out to Jean before cutting me loose. I recall the controller being pretty uptight and nervous. I can see them not wanting the Ferris Wheel there, no doubt.
That Wheel won't be any taller than the tallest bedtower at a Hotel.
We look at our state revenue Ruark.
Ben, LV used to have a waterpark in the 80's--it was Wet and Wild next to the Sahara. LV doesn't need an amusement park--have you checked out the shabby Adventuredome at Circus Circus? What a waste of money that turned out to be.