hollywood billionaire

Chapter 530 Las Vegas Star Enclosure (Part 2)
“Founded in 1968, Circus Circus Resort is one of the most iconic family-friendly resorts in Las Vegas history, known for its distinctive circus theme, fun-filled adventure park, and unique RV campground. However, over time, the property has lost its former glory and competitiveness, and urgently needs a complete redevelopment to meet the high standards of the contemporary luxury travel market.”

"The Las Vegas Stars Project was born out of this need—it aims to transform this historic landmark into a new generation of luxury entertainment complex in Las Vegas through a complete acquisition and renovation."

When this topic came up, Michael Nadler essentially became Han Yi's spokesperson.

"Our core vision is to create Las Vegas's first ultra-high-rise integrated resort jointly managed by multiple of the world's top luxury hotel brands, perfectly blending the ultimate in Asian seclusion aesthetics with classic European luxury service. The entire resort, including Las Vegas festival venues, covers a total area of ​​102 acres. 32 acres will be used to build world-class live entertainment facilities, while the remaining 70 acres will be planned for a casino, a mega-mall shopping mall, an adventure park, a villa resort converted from a former RV campground, and two super-high-rise towers planned to reach a height of 620 feet."

“70 acres,” Jerry Nadler said after a moment’s thought. “Our president-elect’s Riverside South project doesn’t seem to exceed 60 acres, does it?”

The "South Riverside" he mentioned is a large-scale urban renewal project in New York City, jointly developed by the Trump Organization and six civic associations. Spanning 57 acres and costing $30 billion, it comprises 19 apartment buildings, condominiums, and rental housing. To date, 13 towers have been completed, housing over 8000 residents, making it a truly upscale residential area on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

“It is indeed larger,” Ruben-Kihun continued. “In terms of land area alone, it is 8 acres larger than CityCenter, currently the most expensive project in Las Vegas and the largest privately funded project in U.S. history. However, since 10 acres of it are villa areas converted from the original RV campground, the actual usable area is slightly smaller than CityCenter.”

“Still quite remarkable.” Jerry’s lips curled slightly, an expression he often wore when deep in thought. “How are the specific functions allocated?”

“As Congressman Keehun said, 10 acres will be used to build a villa resort in the style of the Nevada desert, and we are currently exploring the possibility of cooperation with Aman Resorts,” Han Yi finally took over. “Another 10 acres will be used for internal roads, landscaped parks and back-of-house areas; the shopping center, adventure park, supporting parking garages and outdoor pedestrian streets connecting them will occupy about 50 acres; the two towers and their bases, entrance plazas and ground landscaping will occupy about 12 acres—of course, this part will overlap with the shopping center, and the towers will be built directly on top of the mall.”

“The hotel will be larger than the Trump Hotel, but smaller than those large hotel buildings in Vegas, such as the Bellagio or Palazzo.” Michael Nadler was perhaps very excited about the plan that Han Yi had presented to him, or perhaps he wanted to impress his father, or perhaps both. Whatever the reason, his desire to express himself seemed much stronger than that of Han Yi and Ruben Keehun. “Although the specific architectural and design plans are still pending finalization, the general plan is that the two towers will be able to accommodate 4500 rooms. Most of them will be bookable hotel rooms, while a small portion will be sold directly as luxury apartments.”

“4500 rooms.” Jerry’s smile deepened. “How many rooms does Bellagio have?”

“3933 rooms.” Michael Nadler knew that his father’s old habit had resurfaced—after serving most of his life as a congressman, no matter who he was talking to, once he got serious, the whole atmosphere would become as tense as a congressional interrogation.

As he answered, he turned to look at Han Yi. The latter gave him a reassuring look, indicating that everything was fine and that he should relax.

"Where is Palazzo?"

"Five."

“So, don’t you think the number ’4500’ is a bit too high?” Jerry Nadler pushed his plate forward, crossed his arms on the table, and truly adopted a congressional interrogation mode. “Is that too high a number for a project in Las Vegas? This city already has the most hotel rooms in the United States, and even the world. If I’m wrong, please correct me.”

“You’re right.” Han Yi followed suit, placing his arm on the table and leaning forward. “Las Vegas has 15 rooms, more than any other tourist city.”

"But please note that we are not adding 4500 rooms directly to the market. Instead, we are first withdrawing 3767 rooms and then adding 4500 rooms... Moreover, not all of these 4500 rooms are hotel rooms. Some of them will be sold as apartments."

"Therefore, it can be said that you will maintain the existing room capacity of the Circus Circus Hotel," Jerry Nadler concluded in response to the question.

“That’s right, the number of rooms will remain basically the same, but the quality and positioning will change.” Han Yi nodded. “Circus Circus is currently an outdated and unattractive four-star hotel, mainly attracting tourists with limited budgets who just want to spend twenty dollars a night to gamble all night. The ‘Starry Twin Towers’ will completely rewrite the narrative of this place—no more twenty-dollar rooms, no more cheap perfumes and cigarette smoke, no more drunkards disturbing families. We will introduce the most luxurious hotel brand alliance in Las Vegas history.”

“Las Vegas is a consumer-driven city, or more precisely, a luxury goods-driven city,” Ruben-Kihun explained. “In 2015, Las Vegas welcomed 4230 million visitors, with each visitor spending an average of $721. I just spoke with city officials a few days ago, and this year that number will increase by at least 20%, or even more. In comparison, New York City had 5800 million visitors last year, and their average spending was $640.”

“New York has 107000 hotel rooms with an average daily occupancy rate of 84.7%, while Las Vegas? With 4230 million tourists and 15 rooms, the average daily occupancy rate has reached 87.7%, a full 3% higher than New York!” Ruben, in his prime and having just won a fierce election, spoke with clear logic and great momentum.

"Furthermore, since 2005, the number of casino licenses and gaming tables in Las Vegas has remained within a stable range, and in fact, the absolute numbers have been declining. In 2005, Las Vegas issued a total of 1899 licenses and 15.2 gaming tables. In 2015, the number of licenses was 2010, but the number of gaming tables dropped to 12.5. As for the gaming revenue of Clark County as a whole, it has also remained unchanged since 2005, at $97 billion in 2005 and $96 billion in 2015, stagnating for a decade. This indicates that the gaming industry has reached its full potential."

"The next growth point for Las Vegas lies in its supporting services. We need larger shopping malls, more upscale restaurants, and of course, better hotels to stimulate tourist spending. If we want to maintain stable and rapid growth, projects like Las Vegas Star are crucial."

"Ah."

Jerry Nadler didn't press further, but nodded, squeezing out a single syllable from his bloated belly. Reuben Keehun and Han Yi didn't know, but Michael Nadler knew perfectly well that this was one of his father's primary ways of expressing satisfaction and appreciation.

It is commendable to deprive a member of Congress of any further questioning.

"So it will be a joint management of multiple hotel brands, right? I guess you will partner with existing brands rather than creating some new ones."

“That’s right,” Han Yi replied. “As I just said, we’re in talks with Aman about RV campgrounds. If they’re not very interested, then our next target is Banyan Tree—as a desert city, Las Vegas is perfect for building these villa resorts, but the market is currently untapped. This is undoubtedly a major disappointment for ultra-high-net-worth travelers seeking differentiated experiences.”

"As for the Star Towers, we will introduce two or three ultra-luxury brands that have never appeared in Las Vegas before to each tower. Rosewood, Bulgari, Park Hyatt, Cheval Blanc Randheli, Six Senses, Dorchester Collection, or... Again, these are just preliminary ideas, but for a world-class tourist city like Las Vegas, it urgently needs some truly luxurious hotels to enhance its ability to accommodate high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth tourists."

"It's not hard to understand why many luxury hotel brands haven't yet entered Las Vegas, because the scale of a single hotel here is simply too enormous. The Bellagio Hotel we just mentioned has 3933 rooms, and no brand can manage so many rooms while maintaining ultra-five-star service quality. That's why I wanted to split the Twin Towers into multiple independent hotel units, allowing different brands to manage them. Each hotel has several hundred rooms, ensuring that service quality doesn't decline while also providing a wide variety of choices for guests choosing the Las Vegas Stars."

"Imagine if a resort owned Rosewood, Bulgari, Park Hyatt, Cheval Blanc, Six Senses, and Aman, each with a top-notch spa and multiple Michelin-starred restaurants, how much wealth would it attract? This is far superior to creating a new brand and spending decades building market trust."

“I understand the advantages of this layout.” Jerry Nadler nodded slightly. “Now tell me about the other components of this site. What will the 50-acre shopping mall and adventure park you mentioned look like?”

“Circus Circus already has a 5-acre adventure park that is operating well. After the acquisition, we will upgrade and renovate it.”

At this point, Han Yi paused deliberately.

"As for the shopping mall, it will be divided into two main areas."

"One of them is the 25-acre 'Halo Gallery,' which brings together top luxury brands, high-end department stores, and contemporary designer brands."

"The second is the 20-acre 'Oasis Outdoor Pedestrian Street,' which features restaurants, lifestyle brands, boutiques, and large brand experience flagship stores."

"Together, the Starry Sky Shopping Center, with a total retail floor area of ​​over three million square feet, will surpass the Las Vegas Fashion Show Shopping Center and the South Coast Plaza in California to become the largest and most diverse consumer destination on the West Coast."

(End of this chapter)