Wynn Resorts Confirms Paradise Park Lagoon Project is All-Systems-Go

Posted on: April 26, 2017, 04:01h. 

Last updated on: April 26, 2017, 04:01h.

Casino.org Staff Writer Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming.

Steve Wynn’s plan to build a $1.5 billion lagoon complete with white sandy beaches and a new 1,000-room hotel-casino just off the Las Vegas Strip has been signed off by the Wynn Resorts board and has the full go-ahead.

Wynn delivered the news himself at an earnings call to discuss strong Q1 earnings, boosted by Macau’s recent resurgence.

The flamboyant Wynn Resorts chairman and CEO said that the company plans to start building the “Paradise Park” development, its first since the completion of the Encore in 2008, as soon as December this year.   

“Just Like Disney”

“We’ve got all these great ideas that are going into this lagoon and this beach front property,” enthused Wynn. “We have no better use for our money. We keep $1.5 billion or $2 billion in the parent company and this would allow us to take the most conservative, but the most dynamic approach to creating this.”

It would provide a “tremendous uptick in the value of our surrounding real estate,” he added.

The resort, which would nestle behind the Wynn and Encore resort towers on the Las Vegas Strip, where the Wynn Golf Club now stands, would be built in phases, said Wynn, although it’s unclear how many. The first phase would include the lagoon, boardwalk, new convention space and food services.

Speaking at his company’s first ever investor day last year, Wynn said that the new resort would offer “ice cream and a fireworks show every night, just like Disney,” while the lake would host waterskiing and paddle-boarding. It was the “most fun” project he had ever been involved in, he added.

China Resurgence

Wynn Resorts also updated analysts and shareholders on another project in the pipeline, the Wynn Boston Harbor, currently under construction in Everett, near Boston, Massachusetts. The company said the total budget for the resort is estimated at $2.4 billion and it’s expected to open mid-2019.

Wynn Resorts’ shares closed up almost 6 percent on Wednesday, the day after the call, thanks to strong earnings. Wynn said its adjusted property earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was up 42 percent in Q1, thanks to a resurgent Macau and a strong performance by the new Wynn Palace.

“We’re enjoying a resurgence of activity at the top end in China,” Wynn said. “People are settling back into routines that they’re comfortable with, and that includes, you know, going to Macau and buying a new car or shopping at Louis Vuitton.”