Comments on: News Release About The Drew Contains Glorious Amounts of WTF

William Wingo — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 14:59:59 +0000

Update/afterthought: similarities to the Landmark also come to mind: years in construction; years sitting vacant; bought by a billionaire; struggled for its entire existence; closed; more years sitting vacant; and finally imploded to make way for a convention center parking lot.
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Landmark_Hotel_and_Casino

Comments on: News Release About The Drew Contains Glorious Amounts of WTF

Scott Roeben — Thu, 25 Apr 2019 16:37:48 +0000

In reply to Drambler. Hey, I read these comments sometimes!

Comments on: News Release About The Drew Contains Glorious Amounts of WTF

Greg M — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 23:23:03 +0000

In reply to FYMYAWF. Agreed. Just implode it and put in a Tam O'Shanter. The North end of the strip is never coming back. I hope this becomes a teaching era in history that the whole "bulldoze it and make something bigger" thing is over! The Stardust, Riv, and even Westward Ho, could have been updated and fixed. The heyday of over-the-top, grandiose hotels is over. I predict a big giant THUD for Resorts World. Lucky Dragon was just a preview.

Comments on: News Release About The Drew Contains Glorious Amounts of WTF

William Wingo — Fri, 19 Apr 2019 13:30:08 +0000

I agree with other posters that the published cost estimates are low. No inside information, but I’ve seen a couple of YouTube “urban explorer” videos of the interior, and it’s obviously going to need a lot of work. It could be almost like the Maxim-Westin Casuarina conversion–and we know how that turned out.
For comparison, in 1989 Mirage went over budget and cost $630 million; and in 1998 Bellagio, at the time “the most expensive hotel ever built,” came in at $1.6 billion. Now it’s going to cost over 3 billion just to refurbish FountaineDrew? And that’s the low estimate?? As Scott might say, “Double WTF.”
Maybe if Mr. Icahn is through with Caesars by then, he could buy it back; sit on it another ten years; and then sell it again.
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westin_Las_Vegas
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drew_Las_Vegas

Comments on: News Release About The Drew Contains Glorious Amounts of WTF

Don DiMartio — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 22:38:35 +0000

Failed at the top of the last market crash…now starting over again at the top of this upcoming (way overdue) market crash.

This hollow shell is going to haunt Vegas for 20 years.

Comments on: News Release About The Drew Contains Glorious Amounts of WTF

Suspicious Steve — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 21:11:17 +0000

I smell PR damage control in play. Scott’s blog article about the horseshit press release and big dreams for a weathered/incomplete tower is randomly read by people who not only know the architectural industry, but conveniently want to blow wind up DS+R ‘s skirt?

Doesn’t look suspicious at all.

Comments on: News Release About The Drew Contains Glorious Amounts of WTF

Rooster — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 13:52:35 +0000

FountainDrew…”With a confirmed opening date in the second quarter of 2022″

OMG!!!! My sides!!!

Too funny.

Comments on: News Release About The Drew Contains Glorious Amounts of WTF

Brandon — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 08:51:08 +0000

I very much want this place to become a reality, and I very much want it to be called anything but The Drew.

Terrible, terrible name.

Comments on: News Release About The Drew Contains Glorious Amounts of WTF

MV — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 02:50:58 +0000

In reply to Nick.

SLS was a colossal turd with boutique design and big name recognition surrounding it… City Center for all its ‘StArchitecture�?isn’t widely loved or profitable… I wouldn’t get too excited until we see what DS+R / Witkoff reveals, but I’m hopeful . DS+R’s work leans conceptually towards performance and spectacle; potentially a perfect match for Vegas… but realization of these projects often reveal little more than a styling excercise. For what it’s worth, Capital A architecture can only survive on the resort corridor of Vegas as long as it’s profitable and there’s much more that goes into that formula than design alone.

Comments on: News Release About The Drew Contains Glorious Amounts of WTF

Nick — Thu, 18 Apr 2019 01:33:30 +0000

Like one of the above posters mentioned you wouldn’t need a big name architect to come up with a budget. Any resort experienced local firm would get you in the ballpark and there’s three or four who do these all the time. All the NY firm does is provide creative direction, re-style the building and act as a major marketing opportunity. They’re clearly not going for Venetian’s guests. They’re going for people who know who DS+R’s is and care, which is a market share that maybe only Wynn competes in. Vegas architecture tends to be lowest-common denominator, generally terrible (a giant LED Earth?!) and appealing to people who don’t know better or care, so the shift toward capital A Architecture could signal a shift of market focus and a bit of a leap of faith. Sometimes it works out, as it did with Arquitectonica designing Cosmo and bringing a Miami/urban feel to Las Vegas. With City Center bringing in people unfamiliar with gaming created something that feels more like an airport dropoff than the high concept MGM touted.

This is not the first time a gaming company has teamed up with a celebrity architect. Sands did it years ago at the Marina Bay Sands and MGM of course at City Center to varying degrees of success. Melco had Zaha Hadid do their newest Macau hotel Morpheus and even Steve-less Wynn has partnered with a celebrity architect for their upcoming projects as well. All three are likely to use big name designers for their Japan pitches, but in all those cases its more about styling the building, big ideas and marketing. Since the Drew already exists the technical requirements of finishing the project and re-skinning the facade are more of a budget line-item unless they plan on doing something crazy or dramatically different than what’s there, which I doubt. You’re likely not talking about a billion dollar difference to the project. There’s no way Diller Scofidio and Renfro are touching the interior spaces in any meaningful way. That would be a rookie move and John Unwin should know better after having to fix the mistakes at Cosmo. The interior fit out, besides Ian Schrager’s Edition Hotel will likely be someone local or someone who has a lot of casino experience — you just can’t get that wrong. Hell Palms had a bunch of vets on that job and they still have issues. Also I wouldn’t sleep on Schrager’s involvement. He’s a huge get for Vegas and besides being the guy who created very idea of a boutique hotel, is the original nightlife impressario who crated Studio 54 back in the day. They might have something up their sleeves for nightlife.