Vegas Extends Appeal To Gather Larger Crowds

Vegas has slowly been seeing a decline in the money they have taken in on the gambling front, but the retail, food and hospitality parts of the business have been increasing. This means that people who have less of an interest in gaming are still coming to the desert metropolis.

And Las Vegas and the big players on the strip have worked hard for that to happen. The shows are slicker than ever and provide great entertainment, and there are so many great places to eat it is hard to keep track of them. Gambling aside, if you like first class accommodations and even better food, Vegas is one of the few places to go where you won’t be disappointed. This town lives on making people happy (and, of course, taking some of their money).

Following that vein, Ceasars has just signed Eric Eberhart, of Disney fame to be general manager of the High Roller Observation Wheel.

The 550 foot development will be right on the strip, and will be the premier feature of the Linq retail district. The Linq will also feature outdoor dining and entertainment. The High Roller will be the world tallest observation wheel.

Eberhart has spent 26 years with the Disney Corporation; it is doubtful that Vegas will replay the disastrous ‘bring your family here’ commercials, but new developments like the Linq are designed to draw a different crowd, and give the current crowd another way to stay entertained and spend money.

The hiring of Eberhart sends that signal loud and clear. He is a pro at developing entertainment features and venues; he was the senior director of operations for Sundance Film Centers, and worked closely with Disney’s California Adventure.

The observation wheel will be the tallest in the world upon its completion, and one revolution will take 30 minutes – the sight should be spectacular.

The project will also include the Imperial Palace and a small casino named O’Sheas. O’Sheas will be demolished to make room for the expanding Imperial Palace. This will be the first big development since the 2007 real estate crash started Nevada’s woes.

The Linq will create about 1500 new jobs, according to Ceasars, and have thirty to forty retail, dining and entertainment venues in about a 200,000 square foot open air market place, and the construction of the Linq will also include upgrades to the Imperial Palace and the Flamingo. The entire project is expected to cost about 550 million, and Ceasars says that the money is already in the bank. Ceasars currently operates ten of the properties that are on the Strip.

All the other major players are expanding the retail dining and entertainment aspects of their operations to attract more of the tourist crowd, and hoping that some of them will be enticed to play at least a few games while they are there.

The Skyvue wheel in a similar retail and entertainment complex is also planned by developer Howard Bulloch. The money people obviously see times getting better in the next few years, for the money for big projects is once again starting to flow onto the streets of Vegas, despite increased competition from what seems like every other state in the union.