A look from the Strip at Ocean Prime, an American seafood and steak restaurant under construction at the new 63 commercial and retail development being built on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue. Ocean Prime, which promises to bring “something different” to the Strip, is scheduled to open in 2023.
Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2022 | 2 a.m.
As he stood four stories above the intersection of Harmon Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard, David Miller of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants said his company had long wanted to bring “something different” to the Las Vegas restaurant scene.
That something is an under-construction $20 million seafood and steakhouse, which will be nestled between the Cosmopolitan and Aria within a larger development called 63.
The 14,500-square-foot Ocean Prime steakhouse will have a rooftop terrace that overlooks the Strip, two bars, three private dining rooms and the capacity to seat 400. It is expected to open in the spring.
“The majority of the great seafood and steakhouses here in Las Vegas are in these beautiful hotels up and down the Strip,” said Miller, the group’s president. “It was a big differentiator for us to not be in a hotel; to have a freestanding restaurant. We’re spending a lot of time to have an Ocean Prime here that uses design elements that haven’t been used in our other restaurants.”
The Cameron Mitchell group got its start in 1993 when its namesake opened his first restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. The company is still based in Columbus but has grown over the years to now have 19 different restaurant brands in 14 states and Washington, D.C.
The Ocean Prime brand is in 18 cities across the country, including Beverly Hills, Calif., New York City and Orlando, Fla.
With its Las Vegas location, Miller said the company wanted to make sure to have a bit more of a feminine aesthetic. He referred to the look as a new “softness and attitude.”
Enter Karen Herold, a Chicago interior designer and founder of the firm Studio K Creative, who said the look would be fresh with many light colors.
“We’re going to be very much focused on a female audience instead of the males,” Herold said. “I’ve always been taught that if you get the females, the males will follow — and that’s kind of the approach.”
Miller said he was especially excited for the restaurant’s 2,500-square-foot rooftop terrace, which will feature views of the one of the most bustling intersections along the Strip. Herold said the terrace would be “lush and loungy with lots of palm trees.”
Miller couldn’t help but wonder what it will be like for someone to watch the scheduled November 2023 Formula One auto race, which will feature a track that goes partially along the Strip and turns at Harmon Avenue, from the terrace.
“That’ll be the catbird seat,” Miller said. “We’re open for inquiries about that. You’ll have that event, then the Super Bowl (in 2024). It really is unbelievable how Las Vegas continues to reinvent itself and stay relevant.”
Brett Torino, a local businessman and philanthropist, and partners with New York-based Flag Luxury are developing 63. They acquired the 2 acres of land in 2021 from MGM Resorts International — which controls the larger Aria Campus on the Strip, formerly commonly referred to as CityCenter — in an $80 million transaction.
They hope to have the 63 development project completed this fall.
“Since we’re really nestled within these fabulous properties — Aria, Cosmopolitan, the Shops at Crystals, and near the Bellagio — we’re really the new kid on MGM’s block,” Torino said. “They wanted to make sure that everything we did here was quality. We have to let (MGM) know when we’re bringing in a tenant because it has to be a top-drawer tenant. We brought in Ocean Prime, one of the best in the industry.”
Torino, a California native who moved to Southern Nevada in the late 1970s, is also behind the Harmon Corner development, just across from where Ocean Prime will be. Above the restaurant project, a massive LED sign, rivaling the one at Harmon Corner was turned on for the first time Monday afternoon.
As Miller, Herold and Torino talked below, the sign advertised Ocean Prime’s future steakhouse to the masses traveling along the Strip.
“Las Vegas is back,” Torino said. “Where is it going? Well, that bar is continually being raised, and we want to be a part of that experience. Ocean Prime wants to be a part of that story. Nobody wants to just do as well as someone else, they want to redefine what that level is.”
