When Boyd Gaming announced plans to tear down The Stardust and build a $5 billion complex of hotels, casinos, and entertainment venues in its place, the grand opening date was set for early 2010. Echelon, as it was to be called, would've been the crown jewel in the company's portfolio of properties that includes Downtown favorites like Main Street Station and The Fremont.
But then a little thing called a global economic meltdown came along, two of the partners in the development went bankrupt, and the folks at Boyd decided that maybe it wasn't the best time to open a $5 billion gamble in the hot Nevada desert. So they shuttered the construction site last year, leaving 87 acres of dirt, cranes, and the steel shells of what was to come.
When they did so, the party line wasn't "we're stopping entirely," rather "we're delaying for a little while." Various date ranges were thrown around but most assumed the work would start again sometime in 2009.
Or maybe 2010.
Certainly no later than 2011.
I think you can see where this is going.
During a recent investors call, officials with Boyd Gaming announced they would not restart construction on Echelon for three to five years. For those of you still recovering from Halloween festivities that can't possibly do math in your head, that means sometime between 2012 and 2014. And that's just to get the work going again. It'll take another two to three years beyond that to actually build the place.
What the place will be is also a big question mark. When originally announced, the property was going to have five hotels: a 2,300 room main hotel with a 140,000 square-foot casino; a 650 all-suite hotel; a Las Vegas branch of high-end Asian hotelier Shangri-La with 350 rooms; an 860 room Mondrian (a big name in Los Angeles); and a 550 room Delano. In addition there was going to be more than 30 restaurants, nightclubs, bars, and lounges; two theaters; and a 300,000 square-foot shopping mall.
However, the companies that were to contribute money and manage both the mall and the Mondrian and Delano hotels went bankrupt and now will not be part of Echelon when it finally opens.
That's a problem, of course, but perhaps not as much of a problem as the fact that they started construction on a property with those things included. Many analysts believe that once Boyd is finally read to get the project going again, they may need to radically alter what they have already put in the ground, which is only going to add more time to the project.
Do I hear 2020?
Further complicating matters is the money situation.
Boyd Gaming secured about $2 billion in credit for the project before the economy tanked. Now that money is sitting there burning a hole in their proverbial pocket and they seem eager to spend it. Boyd is lobbying hard to try to snap up several of the Stations Casinos out of bankruptcy, and if they are successful it means a big chunk of those billions will be gone. Whether or not they'll be able to get those billions back from somewhere to be able to complete Echelon is a huge question mark.
So get used to seeing a big pile of dirt and a partially built hotel on the north end of The Strip. It's going to be there for a long, long time.
From the Vegas4Visitors Weekly Update of November 3, 2008: Echelon Edges Away
Back in August when the Boyd Gaming Group announced they would temporarily halt construction on their multi-billion dollar Stardust replacement called Echelon, they said it would be for only 9-12 months while they sorted through the highly complicated financial structure of such a huge project. But no worries - the cranes and crews will be back on the job sometime in 2009.
Do I hear 2010?
Last week the company announced that it is effectively mothballing the entire project until at least 2010 while it goes back to the drawing board on how they are going to complete the resort now that it looks like two of their major partners have all but dropped out of the deal.
Morgan's Hotel Group was to contribute to the 5,000 room inventory by building two of their luxury boutique hotels on the property - a Mondrian and a Delano - but it looks like that may no longer be part of the Echelon package.
And General Growth Properties was supposed to contribute a 300,000 square-foot retail component but now that company's entire future is in question (see related story below).
If all this had happened a year ago it would've been difficult for Boyd but they could've gone back to the drawing board and just erased things if they needed to. The problem is that there are partially built hotel towers on the land where the Stardust used to be so that particular train has already left the station. Going back now to reimagine the entire resort is going to be a timely and costly endeavor.
In the meantime the opening date for Echelon edges further away. When first announced it was supposed to debut in 2010, but now that will probably be 2012 at the earliest.
From the Vegas4Visitors Weekly Update of August 4, 2008: Echelon Put on Hold
For a lot of average Americans, it's getting tougher and tougher to come up with the $4 to even pay for a gallon of gas these days. Imagine having to come up with $5 billion to build yourself a hotel.
That's the bottom line reasoning behind the stunning decision last week to put the construction of the $5 billion Echelon project on hold for up to a year.
Echelon is the 5,000-plus room project that is.... Sorry, was... being built on the land once occupied by The Stardust. As planned it would've included a main hotel plus three boutique hotels, a huge casino, shopping, restaurants, convention space, and all of the other stuff that comes along with a place this big.
The Stardust was imploded last year and construction on Echelon began in earnest earlier this year. As of the work shutdown, some of the hotel towers had several floors complete and work was progressing rapidly on many of the other areas of the resort.
The decision to push the pause button was blamed on the battered global credit market, making it tough for Boyd Gaming, operators of Echelon, to come up with the cash to keep the construction crews going.
Speaking of the workers, the decision puts as many as a thousand people out of work.
Reps for the Boyd company say they will monitor the credit market regularly and move forward when they can, but probably not anytime before spring of 2009. This means the earliest the hotel could possible open would be 2011.
From the Vegas4Visitors Weekly Update of June 25, 2007:
Echelon Place Breaks Ground
The official ground breaking of the new Echelon Place resort occurred last week, bringing with it some more details, a first look, and a higher price tag.
Originally expected to cost in the neighborhood of just over $4 billion, the project is now expected to run more like $4.8 billion. Eh, what's a couple hundred million dollars between friends?
The project will cover more than 80 acres on the land once occupied by The Stardust and the Westward Ho. It will include:
- Hotel Echelon - the centerpiece hotel with a 140,000 square foot casino and 2,300 rooms and suites
- Suites at Echelon - a separate 650 all-suite tower
- Shangri-La - the high-end Asian hotelier will open their largest hotel ever with 353 rooms
- Mondrian - One of two swank names from Morgan's Hotel Group (the same folks who run the Hard Rock) with 860 rooms
- Delano - The other Morgan's hotel with 550 rooms
- More than 300,000 square-feet of retail space
- The aforementioned 140,000 square-foot casino
- More than 30 restaurants, nightclubs, bars, and lounges
- Two theaters; one with 4,000 seats and another with 1,500 seats
The whole thing is expected to open in 2010. You can get more info and see more art at the resort's official website.
From the Vegas4Visitors Weekly Update of April 2, 2007:
Echelon Place Update
More than $4 billion is being pumped into the massive resort that replaces The Stardust on the northern end of The Strip. That legendary hotel was imploded a couple of weeks ago and construction on the new place is just now kicking off in earnest. When complete in 2010 it will feature more than 5,000 hotel rooms in several towers (some as boutique hotels that will operate independently), a casino, a large shopping mall, restaurants, several entertainment venues, and a convention center.
As seen in the photo at the right, only a pile of ruble remains from the Stardust at the site of Echelon place. April 5th, 2007 photo.
From the Vegas4Visitors Weekly Update of January 9, 2006:
2006 will most likely be the last year for Vegas
visitors to grab a piece of Stardust.
The Stardust Hotel & Casino, in business since 1958, will be closing
later this year and torn down in 2007 to make way for a $4 billion development
to be called Echelon Place it was announced last week. The 60-plus acre project
from parent company Boyd Gaming will contain a grand total of 5,300 hotel rooms
operating under four different banners.
The first, and by far the biggest, is the Boyd owned and operated Echelon
Resort, a $2.9 billion hotel and casino that will feature 3,300 rooms - 2,600
"standard" units in one tower and 700 suites in a second.
Next will be a Las Vegas version of the chic Los Angeles hotel The Mondrian
that will feature 1,000 rooms and a separate check-in, pool, restaurants, bars,
and more.
The same group that is creating the Mondrian will also create a 600 room
Delano hotel, patterned after the South Beach resort of the same name.
Finally, one of the leading hotel groups in Asia will build a 400 room
Shangri-La hotel, complete with a 20,000 square-foot casino.
At the center of all of this accommodation madness is a massive casino and
entertainment facility. It will feature 140,000 square-feet of casino space
(that's second only to MGM Grand on The Strip), a 350,000 square-foot shopping
facility (roughly the same size as Venetian's Grand Canal Shoppes), a 4,000-seat
theater for major productions and concerts, a 1,500 seat theater for smaller
events, 1 million square-feet of convention space, a giant pool and recreation
area, and another spa.
The Echelon hotel rooms will most likely be built on top of the casino as is
tradition while the other hotels popping up elsewhere on the property but with
access to the central entertainment complex.
The whole thing will be an upscale development, going after the high-priced
luxury market that is almost completely ignored in Las Vegas these days. Unless
you count Bellagio, The Venetian, Caesars Palace, Wynn Las Vegas, and just about
every other hotel being built in the city. Boyd Gaming insists that the
middle-market will not be ignored in Echelon and future developments but from
what they're saying about the place you better start saving your money now.
Interestingly, there are no plans for any residential component at this time
although that may be included on a 3-acre portion of the land that is not being
developed in the initial phase.
Some of the people who helped develop and run Boyd's very successful Borgata
in Atlantic City are coming to Vegas to oversee the development and execution of
the new mega-resort.
As mentioned, the Stardust is expected to remain open for business for the
bulk of 2006 but will most likely close before the end of the year. Construction
on the resort will begin in 2007 and is projected to be completed by 2010.
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