From the ashes of a failed development, Resorts World has risen on north Strip
The opening of Resorts World Las Vegas would have been spectacular regardless of when it happened. The gleaming, $4.3 billion property is simply magnificent, and the fireworks gala that signaled the opening was dazzling.
But this resort’s opening has special meaning. It’s a symbol of our community’s ability to overcome adversity — times two.
It’s so refreshing to see two 66-story towers on a site where, for years, the skeletal structure of the partially finished Echelon provided a painful reminder of the setbacks Las Vegas endured during the recession.
And watching the place come to life was a moment to remember after those dark days of the coronavirus pandemic when our tourist corridor fell silent.
Resorts World is Las Vegas glitz and excess come to life, boasting more than 40 restaurants and bars, 70,000 square feet of boutiques, a 117,000-square-foot casino, a 5,000-seat theater and a 100,000-square-foot video screen on its West Tower, to name a few of its features. Its eye-candy design elements, as described by the Sun’s Hillary Davis, include “a wiry phoenix sculpture, hundreds of delicate mesh birds hanging from the ceiling, and a sphere two stories tall, glowing with blocks of light cascading down its digital panels, all swathed in shades of red.”
“It is so magnificent, it is so phenomenal, so over the top,” Gov. Steve Sisolak said as he viewed the scene at the opening gala. “It’s setting a new standard, and it’s raising the bar very, very high.”
In sticking with the project
during the pandemic, Genting Group gave a strong vote of confidence to the future of Las Vegas’ economy. Like no shortage of industry analysts, they’re expecting visitation to our community to roar back as the recovery plays out.
Having Resorts World on the scene provides hope that, at long last, the North Strip could revitalize. With the recent completion of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority’s $898 million expansion, there are two key pieces in place to drive more traffic to the area.
Along with the opening last
October of Circa on Fremont Street, Resorts World also stands as a tribute to Las Vegas’ standing as a can-do city. While some cities were standing still, we managed to complete two resorts built from the ground up.
“If you asked a year ago if this would be built right in the middle of the pandemic, you would have (thought), ‘No,’” Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom said during the Resorts World grand opening. “But people came out here, worked their butts off, pounded nails, poured concrete, with
masks on while we’re home complaining because we can’t do Zoom.”
Las Vegas still has a ways to go in our recovery, and a recent increase in new cases of COVID19 is a source of concern.
But in the glow of the fireworks that burst above Resorts World on Thursday, and in the images appearing on the exterior video screen, there was hope for better days ahead.
“What a way to tell the world Las Vegas is back,” said Rep. Dina Titus, D-nev., during the opening.
What a way, indeed.