Wynn Resorts scratches plan for lagoon on Las Vegas Strip

LAS VEGAS — The Las Vegas Strip won’t have a lagoon after all.

Casino operator Wynn Resorts revealed during its third quarter earnings call Wednesday that it has scratched plans for an artificial lake that would have taken the place of its 18-hole golf course. At the size of nearly 100 Olympic swimming pools, the lagoon plan was pitched in 2016 as a more conservative use of water for the company’s Wynn and Encore casino-resorts complex on the Strip.

Maddox said the casino operator is eliminating the lagoon project because it now owns 38 acres of undeveloped land along the Strip. He said the company will spend two years drawing up plans for the “far superior site” that was purchased last year.

“That project was over $3 billion looking at it today with construction costs, and it included the convention center that we are building right now,” CEO Matt Maddox told investors, adding that “we weren’t really interested in building a large public swimming pool for the Las Vegas Strip.”

Meanwhile, the golf course’s original architect, Tom Fazio, has designed a new 18-hole course after the original was affected by the development of the 400,000-square-foot convention center expected to open in January 2020, Maddox said. The company lost 16,000 rounds of golf and

$10 million to $15 million in domestic casino business since the course closed, he said.