Madison Square Garden Entertainment
You don’t need a crystal ball to know that fortunes are on the rise for Las Vegas. But a giant ball — the world’s largest spherical structure — is among the many new projects forecasting economic prosperity for one of the country’s top tourist destinations.
The city, with its famed Strip of gaming and resort indulgences, is back on solid footing since the pandemic hit hard in 2020. Last year the city welcomed 38.8 million visitors, a 20.5 percent jump from 2021. And 2023, already off to a strong start with $3.2 billion in major development planned throughout the resort corridor that is undergoing tremendous revitalization. Off the Strip, too, the city buzzing with developments that will bring new hotel, dining and gaming thrills.
What’s coming?
With the Strip as its background, Formula 1 is zooming into Las Vegas Nov. 16-18 as drivers reach speeds of more than 200 mph racing past the city’s hotels and casinos. Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix is expected to bring in more than 170,000 visitors with a projected economic impact of $1.3 billion. Tickets start at $500 for general admission and go up to thousands of dollars for grandstand seating and high-roller hospitality skybox packages.
Fontainebleau Las Vegas will open fourth quarter 2023 with a 67-story hotel, gaming, entertainment and dining. Located on 25 acres on the northern end of the Strip adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center expansion, the project will have 3,700 hotel rooms and 550,000 square feet of convention and meeting space.
Fontainebleau Las Vegas, a new 67-story hotel with gaming and entertainment, is set to open fourth quarter 2023 at 2777 S. Las Vegas Blvd. The $3.7 billion project will feature 3,700 luxury hotel rooms.Fontainebleau Las Vegas
Located a block off the Strip, the MSG Sphere from Madison Square Garden Entertainment is billed as a next-generation entertainment venue sporting cutting-edge technologies including an interior wrap-around LED display (the size of four football fields) and audio that will immerse audiences (it has more than 17,000 seats) for events including concerts such as U2, the venue’s first musical act. At 388 feet tall and 516 feet wide, it will be the largest spherical structure in the world. Expected to open in the fall. The MSG Sphere, a new entertainment venue built at a cost of more than $2 billion, will open in fall 2023. With more than 17,00 seats, the spherical structure boasts the highest resolution LED screen on earth.Madison Square Garden Entertainment
Late 2023 also will bring the opening of Station Casinos’ new Durango Casino & Resort in Southwest Las Vegas. Station, a local favorite, is planning a 200-room hotel to accompany an 83,000-square-foot gaming area with a state-of-the-art sportsbook as well as dining including three Clique Hospitality concepts and a food hall that will encompass Irv’s Burgers from Los Angeles, Prince Street Pizza from New York, Fiorella from Philadelphia’s Marc Vetri, and Ai Pono Café from Hawaii.
This year also will see room remodels at New York-New York, Bellagio, MGM Grand and Wynn Las Vegas; and The Mirage resort will undergo an ambitious remodel as it rebrands itself as The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
Meanwhile, Caesars Entertainment has taken the former Bally’s Las Vegas and transformed it to Horseshoe Las Vegas, updating not just the name but the venue’s gaming floor and guest rooms along with new dining venues. The reimagined resort features Jack Binion’s Steak, the new M.Y. Asia restaurant from James Beard Award-winning chef Martin Yan, and this summer Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Sports Kitchen restaurant. Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas will host the World Series of Poker May 30 to July 18.
Caesars Entertainment has rebranded the former Bally's as Horseshoe Las Vegas, bringing a legendary casino brand back to the Strip.
