Plans for the estimated $1.2-billion resort call for 2,300 rooms, a 60,000-sf casino, a 3,000-seat concert venue, pool, spa, retail stores, restaurants and a Rande Gerber-operated nightclub called Maxim Lounge. Most of the hotel rooms would be sold as condominiums but rented as hotel rooms. The preliminary development scheduled calls for construction to begin late next year and for the resort to open in 2010.
"We're trying to put together something that will be on the leading edge of what the Strip will start to look like in next 10-20 years," says Kolahi. "It will have the high-end and party-like atmosphere expected of a Maxim-branded hotel and casino."
Maxim, which is published in 45 countries, has a U.S. audience of 13.7 million readers with an average age of 28 years old. The magazine describes its content as "girls, entertainment, sports and stupid jokes." Barry Pincus, director of brand development for Maxim publisher Dennis Publishing Inc., could not be reached Monday afternoon for comment.
"We hope the Maxim name will help create a destination for not only for Las Vegas visitors from the US but globally," Kolahi says. "Hopefully it will attract all types of visitors, from the weekend single bachelor to conventioneers and families."
Kolahi recoils at his project being compared to Hooter's-branded Casino Hotel located just east of the Las Vegas Boulevard on Tropicana Avenue. The casino-hotel opened in the renovated Hotel San Remo in February.
"We are absolutely not in competition with Hooter's," he says. "We will be more in line with the Hard Rock and the Palms and other higher-end properties."
As for being on the leading edge of what the Strip will start to look like in the next decade, Kolahi is referring to the Cosmopolitan and Project City Center developments planned for properties immediately south of the Bellagio. Like those two projects, preliminary plans for the Maxim-branded property include retail space jutting out all the way to Las Vegas Boulevard, Kolahi says.
Concord Wilshire has owned the nine-acre development site for about a year, Kolahi says. The property is located on the northwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Circus Circus Drive. The Las Vegas Convention Center is located one half mile to the East.
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