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Wynn Plans Affordable Water Show, At Least Three Hotels for Desert Inn Site

Steve Wynn says he envisions at least three hotel properties on his massive Desert Inn parcel within seven years, all fronting a huge lake that will double as a water stadium.

And the 50-year-old hotel-casino that now sits astride the parcel probably will close before its scheduled Sept. 30 closure date, Wynn said, as employees leave for other jobs.

In an interview aired Monday night on KLAS-TV, Wynn said construction of the first, 60-story hotel tower could be complete in just two and a half years.

"The property will be so attractive and the opportunity so clear-cut ... that I suspect construction (of the entire land parcel) will commence and be complete within seven years," Wynn said. "On this property, you could put $3 billion to $4 billion worth of stuff."

As has become his trademark in the past, the massive lake will serve as the property's magnet for drawing Strip visitors further north. For a "very modestly priced" admission fee -- between $10 and $15 -- visitors will be able to watch a variety of day and night attractions on the lake, including nighttime shows featuring "lasers and smoke," Wynn said.

It's a similar strategy, Wynn said, to the "little old pirate gimmick" that draws 15,000 to 20,000 people a day to Treasure Island, located within a stone's throw of the DI.

"I think we're looking at a commercial shift in the center of gravity of the Strip a little bit to the north of where things have been," Wynn said. "People didn't think the Dunes (now home of the Bellagio) was such a great place to build."

At this point, Wynn is talking about at least three hotel-casinos. The first two on the Strip, he said, will be "belly to belly ... like Bally's and Paris, but on a little different price point." A third hotel will be built on Paradise Road at some point, he said, to take advantage of convention center business.

Within the first hotel, Wynn said, natural light and lush gardens will predominate.

"I don't know where it became religiously necessary to keep people in artificial light," Wynn said. "I know what's pretty. We need to find a common ground that everyone can agree is lovely and beautiful. There's nobody that doesn't like a beautiful garden of flowers and trees."

Wynn acknowledged he won't be building the project entirely by himself. Currently, he said, Deutsche Bank is handling his efforts to raise private equity to help build the hotel project. And Wynn said some parts of the land parcel, particularly along Paradise Road, will likely be home to joint venture projects, much as Mirage Resorts Inc. partnered with Mandalay Resort Group to build the Monte Carlo hotel-casino on the Strip.

When asked if Hollywood director Steven Spielberg would be one of those partners, Wynn avoided a direct answer.

"I will let the people who invest in this ... speak when the proper time comes," Wynn said. "It is not my intention to own 100 percent of this myself. Everyone I know expresses tremendous enthusiasm and wants to be involved. (But) I don't want to solicit people with whom I have a personal relationship."

Does that mean Spielberg will be involved? "It's a no answer," Wynn retorted.

Though Wynn noted that some debt will be necessary to build the huge project, he insisted that his financial foundation will be built on a high level of equity to prevent interest costs from rising out of control.

"I've never been a leverage person," Wynn said. "I want to be a little conservative. I can't live on the edge as far as leverage."

Wynn said the need to conserve capital compelled him to make the decision to close the Desert Inn last week. He said the property stood to lose $30,000 to $40,000 a day.

"I can't protect the employees, as much as I would like to," Wynn said. "Every time one of the owners stepped up to fix it, they lost their focus and did everything but the right thing.

"They needed an 8,000-square-foot (luxury) apartment like a hole in the head. They needed a 1,000 regular (hotel) rooms and a good kitchen with a great buffet and a hell of a steakhouse. They needed a casino in the right location."

"When we came," Wynn said, "it was Judgment Day."

Wynn said he set the Sept. 30 date for closing the DI based on federal labor laws, which require giving employees a 60-day notice before a property shuts down. He said he consulted with Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson about his experience in shutting down the Sands in the same fashion.

The Sands was forced to shut down just 45 days after the notice was given, Wynn said, as the hotel-casino did not have the necessary help to continue operations -- though employees that remained were paid through the end of the warning period. As employees at the Desert Inn search for jobs en masse, Wynn said he expects the same to happen at his property.

"I don't think the hotel's going to make it to Sept. 30," Wynn said.

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