Jets rumbled nearby at Harry Reid International Airport as developers launched the first casino-hotel project on the south end of the Las Vegas Strip since 2010. Peninsula Pacific Entertainment will operate gambling when the resort opens in late 2024.
The $550 million Dream Las Vegas project, led by Shopoff Realty Investments and Contour in partnership with Dream Hotel Group, broke ground Friday afternoon at an event featuring Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak and other dignitaries.
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The South Las Vegas Boulevard site is adjacent to the airport and buffered on both sides by the Pinball Hall of Fame and a Harley Davidson dealership. The Welcome to Las Vegas sign is a short walk to the south and the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino is a five-minute walk to the north.
Jay Stein, CEO of the Dream Hotel Group, said there hasn’t been a lot of change in casino development over the decades in Las Vegas and that something new was needed.
“We have got something different,” Stein told the crowd gathered. “Looking like the other hotels is not an option for us. So many of the other great lifestyle hotels we know on the coast have come to Las Vegas but never really came in the right way. They were always part of other bigger projects, and you had a homogenized version of a lifestyle hotel. That’s not what we wanted to do. This will be a gamechanger for the city, and we are thrilled to be a part of it.”
The project will feature a 20-story boutique hotel with 531 rooms, a 20,000 sq ft casino floor, seven dining and nightlife venues, a third-level pool deck and day club, two bar and lounge concepts on the gaming floor, a lobby bar, and a cafe on the street level.
Stein dismissed any concerns that the hotel won’t be able to compete with its 531 rooms when other resorts have 3,000, 4,000, and 5,000.
“The largest hotel Dream has now is only 315 rooms, and we make a whole bunch of money,” Stein said. “All the other hotels have the same formula. I am not a business genius, but I have always read that if everybody is doing it one way, do it another way, and you are bound to make a killing. No one has done it, and I’m very confident we will make that killing.”
Dream currently operates 15 hotels in locales like New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Thailand and has 25 more underway in various US cities and Qatar in the Middle East.
But Michael Lindenbaum, chief operating officer for Dream Hotel Group, said a hotel-casino “is a monster we’re not familiar with” since none of the company’s other hotels have casinos. He added, however, that they respect the global allure of Las Vegas and how it’s centered around celebration with professional sports and dining.
“This city is more like our soulmate than anything else. We were built for a city like this,” Lindenbaum said. “I don’t like to talk too much about our program because we like to keep our cards to ourselves, but we know what’s going on down that Strip with those giants with 5,000 rooms. We said two years ago we’re not going to chase giants. We can’t afford to do that. We will use our size to our advantage. Being nimble is where we will find ourselves. We will focus on our brand and experiential hospitality, which is underpinned at every turn by an attentive service culture. It’s that simple, and it’s that difficult.”
Executives at Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E) didn’t speak at the ceremonies but gave brief comments to CDC Gaming Reports. In February, Churchill Downs Incorporated announced it had agreed to purchase Peninsula Pacific’s assets for $2.5 billion, including properties in Virginia and New York, as well as the operations of its Hard Rock Casino & Hotel in Sioux City, Iowa. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. Peninsula Pacific Chief Operations Officer Aaron Gomes said that as part of the deal, the company got to keep its name, the Las Vegas project, and other various assets. Dream Las Vegas isn’t the only thing brewing at Peninsula Pacific; Gomes said that the company has several other deals it’s finalizing and will be announcing.
“We’re extremely excited about this opportunity,” Gomes said. “We’ve known some of the players for a long time. When they brought us the concept and asked what we thought, we believed it was the opportunity of a lifetime for our company. It couldn’t be a better group with Dream and Contour and Shopoff. We’re comfortable that this is going to be a world-class project.”
Gomes said it’s too early to talk about the details of the casino but gave some hints.
“We have some exciting plans in the works, but I can tell you it won’t be like any other casino you have ever seen in Vegas,” Gomes said.
William Shopoff, president and CEO of Shopoff Realty Investments, said the project will create 4,200 construction jobs and 685 permanent hotel-casino jobs. There will also be 100 contract laborers for the resort.
Shopoff called the project as being done “in the spirit of Nevada with two privately held companies along with a significant number of entrepreneurs.” He said a privately financed project such as this isn’t easy to do compared to those financed by publicly-held companies on the Strip.
“We acquired the project in February 2020, and month later the world shut down,” Shopoff said. “You have to be an optimist to be a developer.”
Shopoff said his land lender told him it was stupid to move forward on the project and joked to the audience that they weren’t invited to the ceremonies.
“We had confidence that Las Vegas would rebound, and it certainly has come back with a vengeance,” Shopoff said. “People want to get together and come celebrate, and where do you want to celebrate? There is no place else like Las Vegas. We expected record gaming revenues to continue. Visitors are back, and we expect to serve them.”
Clark County Commission Chairman James Gibson said the project helps “finish off an important part of the Boulevard.” For several years, there have been so many starts and stops, but this project will complement what’s already happening in Las Vegas, he said.
“This is a reset of the development of Las Vegas Boulevard and finishing of the work that was begun when my mother and dad (were teenagers),” Gibson said. “We have done an enormous job, but we have some work to do to finish off this end of the Strip, and you are the leaders.”
In an interview with CDC Gaming Reports, Bill Smith, the senior vice president of design and construction for Shopoff Realty Investments, called it a “fantastic time” to launch the construction since there are no new projects underway, meaning the availability of subcontractors has been overwhelming.
Smith said the location is less than a mile from Allegiant Stadium and about two miles north from announced plans for a $3 billion entertainment complex for a potential NBA franchise along Las Vegas Boulevard South.
Smith said that any concerns about the close proximity to the airport have been addressed.
“It will be much different for this market, and perhaps some of the locals will like that being easy to get in and out of the property,” Smith said. “We think the Dream brand with the closest in Hollywood will bring a customer base that doesn’t exist here. Their customer base is 35 to 45, and we’re excited about that being a new customer for this market. There are younger people looking for an entertainment-based property, and we will have several venues that appeal to that. Overall, we’re going to hit the market at the right time, as well.”
During an interview with CDC Gaming Reports, Lindenbaum said Las Vegas will be the flagship Dream property. Dream has a small equity piece in the hotel that it will manage.
“We’re one of the leading lifestyle hotels in the United States, and we specialize in the sexy corporate or creative class,” Lindenbaum said. “The modern traveler has become more savvy and a little more global. Our guests are mostly young at heart. The casino hotel is a unique animal unto itself. We have a great partnership with P2E, and they are prolific in the U.S., and we’re going to have a great marriage. I think we also want to have a boutique and stylish gaming component. We’re designing the casino to be a little distinctive, just like the hotel.”
When asked about the Cosmopolitan, which targets a similar age range, Lindenbaum said he loves the property and Dream has food and beverage partners who are well represented there.
“I think some of our guests are there,” Lindenbaum. “We’re going to try and steal market share from as many people as we can. We tip our hat to hotels like that, but we think that type of guest will be really interested in our program. We keep a close eye on The Cosmo, Encore and the Wynn, and Resorts World. We’re known for experiential hospitality and, above all, an attentive service culture.”
Half of their strategy, however, will be focused on attracting Las Vegas residents, he said. He cited the nearby Welcome to Las Vegas sign with a line in 100-degree heat.
“We think we’re well-positioned in the market,” Lindenbaum said. “We’re a little bit off the Strip. Being in pioneering neighborhoods is not new to us. It’s something we’re quite accustomed to. It’s going to be worth the override. (We believe) we are building an entertainment district onto itself, and it will be something to see.”
