A project getting announced for the Las Vegas Strip represents one step in a long journey. In many ways, unless it has a major name attached like Caesars Entertainment (CZR) or MGM Resorts International (MGM), a launch press release or even a ceremonial ground breaking are more wishful thinking than actual reality.
Even Las Vegas's biggest players sometimes have projects fall through or see what was first planned not be entirely what gets built. Some projects, like the long-awaited Fontainebleau Las Vegas, manage to actually get built after a nearly 20-year journey, but others simply disappear or become something else.
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It's expensive to build on the Las Vegas Strip and projects, like Madison Square Garden's (MSGE) music and performance venue The Sphere can run hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. That's a larger challenge right now with interest rates rising and money being both harder to raise and more expensive.
A lot can go wrong when you're building on the Las Vegas Strip which makes the fact that these projects are all headed for completion before the end of the year all the more impressive.
MSG Sphere Las Vegas
Four Las Vegas Strip Projects Set to Open in 2023
1. MSG's Sphere
You can't talk about Las Vegas Strip construction without taking a look at The Sphere. It's an eye-catching structure that people can't avoid seeing as it has been under construction in essentially a parking lot at The Venetian.
The Sphere isn't just a concert hall or an arena, it's a first-of-its-kind venue built to essentially be the perfect place for the biggest-name artists to host a residency. And while the cost of the venue has ballooned to $2.2 billion, MSG has shared that it will open in "Fall 2023" with U2 performing the aptly-named "Achtung Baby Live at The Sphere."
While it looks a bit like an alien spaceship landed on The Strip, The Sphere is actually a 366-foot-high steel sphere that will "be covered with about 580,000 square feet of fully programmable LED panels, forming the largest LED screen on Earth," according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "The 17,500-seat venue will have a high-resolution display plane, which is larger than three football fields, the world’s largest beam-forming audio system with more than 160,000 speakers and it will deliver superior sound to every seat in the house."
2. Fontainebleau Las Vegas
The owners of Fontainebleau Las Vegas can thank Resorts World for showing that a world-class resort casino on the north Strip can take customers from the many Caesars and MGM properties on the central and south Strips. That helped the Fontainebleau team line up the $2.2 billion it needed in order to complete the resort, which has been under construction for nearly two decades.
Slated to open before the end of the year, Fontainebleau will offer a 67-story hotel, gaming, meeting, and entertainment destination.
Once complete Fontainebleau Las Vegas will cover 25 acres and nine million square feet directly adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center. It will feature approximately 3,700 luxury hotel rooms, 550,000 square feet of customizable convention and meeting space, and a "world-class" collection of gaming, dining, retail, lifestyle, and health and wellness experiences, according to its owners.
3. Caesars Palace's Stanton Social Prime
A New York favorite, Stanton Social, opens an outpost at Caesars Palace on March 21. Using the name "Stanton Social Prime," the restaurant will feature the sharable dishes its original location has become famous for.
That includes the company's "Famous French Onion Soup Dumplings topped with Gruyère cheese and garlic croutons, as well as Pierogies made with potato, goat cheese and truffle. New creations include the Smoked Butter Board with Thumbelina crudités, Maldon sea salt flakes and sourdough demi baguette and the ‘Al Pastor’ Yellowtail Crudo, which features grilled pineapple, cilantro, lime and pineapple ponzu," Caesars shared in a press release.
Steaks, however are the true star of the menu, according to Caesars, noting that they are "seasoned with house dry rub, rested in a bath of Beurre de Baratte, finished with pink Himalayan salt and served with roasted black garlic."
"True to the showmanship of Las Vegas, Stanton Social Prime also features theatrical tableside presentations, delectable desserts and charming craft cocktails. Those looking for a unique cocktail served in a bottle can try The Black Regiment, made with Bulleit rye whiskey, Carpano Antica vermouth, Amaro Montenegro liqueur and cinnamon," the company added.
4. 63 Las Vegas
While gambling, dining, and entertainment will always be what Las Vegas is known for, Sin City has actually also become a shopper's paradise. The Strip has everything from an elevated mall experience at Miracle Mile Shops to upscale malls like the Forum Shops at Caesars.
Now, a new shopping experience, 63 Las Vegas, is taking shape on the southwest corner of Harmon Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.
"Among the 228,000-square-foot development’s first tenants to open will be the $20 million flagship location of Ocean Prime, a restaurant with 17 locations across the country, and the 15,000-square-foot Museum of Illusions, a family-friendly art-based attraction with nearly 40 other venues around the world," Las Vegas Weekly reported.
About half of the shopping center's tenants will be open by the end of 2023 with the rest slated to open by early 2024.
