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Green Valley Ranch Opens Tonight

Station Casinos and the Greenspun family's GCR Gaming own the $300 million Green Valley Ranch, scheduled to open around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, after a 9 p.m. fireworks display.

All required licenses and permits allowing the property to open have been issued, said Don Marrandino, Station Casinos' president of East Las Vegas operations.

"We're ready to open, and I hope everyone will come out and see Green Valley Ranch," Marrandino said Monday. "The fireworks company assured me this will be one of the biggest fireworks shows they've had at any property."

Marrandino declined to say how much the fireworks cost.

Green Valley Ranch is designed to appeal to a higher-end customer than has been the case for other Station Casinos properties.

"You have to look at our surrounding demographic," Station Casinos Chief Financial Officer Glenn Christenson said. "Anthem, Seven Hills and Green Valley are right next to Green Valley Ranch."

To please the sophisticated tastes of Green Valley Ranch's neighbors, the property was designed to convey a relaxed and warm atmosphere.

"Visitors to Green Valley Ranch will experience a first impression different from their impressions of any other property," said Scott Avjian, the property's lead designer.

Green Valley Ranch exteriors use authentic stone and European plaster and have a Mediterranean feel, Avjian said. Interiors suggest the homes of cattle barons or of old Tuscan farm houses, he added.

"The finishes are stepped up and there's a richer sense of color," Avjian said. "The interior has a warmer, almost residential feel, and the ceilings are quite exciting. It's elegant, but not pretentious."

Station Casinos executives are particularly proud of the new property's guest quarters.

"Our rooms at Green Valley Ranch rival any rooms, anywhere," Marrandino said.

Green Valley Ranch advertisements pitching a joint promotion with American Express cards have appeared in major national magazines, helping to drive demand for the property's rooms.

Almost all of Green Valley Ranch's hotel rooms have been booked for January and February, Christenson said.

The average room is selling for about $150 per night, he added, far more than Station rents rooms for at its other properties.

Station Casinos executives hope the property's proximity to McCarran International Airport will drive business travelers to stay at the new upscale hotel-casino rather than at Strip megaresorts.

"People are surprised when they find out we're so close to the airport and about seven minutes from Mandalay Bay," Christenson said. To meet the hotel room demand, Station Casinos executives have begun planning a Green Valley Ranch expansion that would cost as much as $30 million.

Designs are already being considered for a new, 200-room hotel tower, including a tower-topping suite Marrandino said would be one of the biggest in Las Vegas.

The expansion also would include 16,000 square feet of banquet and convention space and an additional 10,000 square-foot restaurant.

No timetable for the expansion has been set.

The property already has seven restaurants, six fast-food outlets, an 11,000-square-foot convention area, a lavish pool area and a spa.

The Green Valley Ranch casino has 53 table games and 2,500 slot machines, with about 80 percent of the machines using a ticket-in, ticket-out payout system.

Christenson noted that Green Valley Ranch's opening will likely be the last major Las Vegas-area casino opening until late next year at the earliest.

Steve Wynn's Le Reve megaresort project on the site of the Desert Inn is tentatively slated to open in mid-2004, and there are no other projects on line to open before then.

Green Valley Ranch is located at the intersection of the Las Vegas Beltway and Green Valley Parkway.

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