The economy has brought a lot of hardship on Vegas. But hiding with that excuse are those things that were clearly disasters from the outset. Sure blame the economy now, but even in boom times these were bad ideas:
1. Lake Las Vegas: An artificial lake built for rich people 20 miles from Las Vegas. The “lake” is bankrupt. The Ritz-Carlton is closing and so is the casino. Ponder for a moment why no one was laughed off the idea of expending hundreds of millions to build a lake to cater to people who want to live in a desert.
2. The Las Vegas Monorail: I have been going on about how the monorail was destined to fail since almost the day it opened. But Steve Wynn also must have had an inkling as his then being built casino chose not to linkup with a station of its own. Rider expectations that were laughable and officials who were arrogant and quick to respond to criticism with a blizzard of irrelevant facts, but never quite got around to giving me an interview to answer the unanswerable questions about financing. This fiasco is still unraveling.
3. Neonopolis: I think the city has already reconciled themselves to the idea that an ugly squat, and mostly empty, shopping mall will not invigorate downtown. And, yet Las Vegas has not delivered themselves out from the belief that despite all of the empty buildings, downtown’s future involves building more.
4. Tearing down New Frontier: Obviously, tearing down the Stardust did not work out well but there was a solid plan in place for Echelon. The decision to pull the plug on Echelon showed great foresight. But the land for the New Frontier was bought at an outrageous price. The idea for a megaresort version of the Plaza Hotel never made sense. And, now a casino is gone and an empty lot remains. Stupid.
5. Add your own… The choices are ample. (Photo: Sarah Gerke)
The monorail is a good idea that was poorly implemented. The other three were just bad ideas.
The monorail could have worked if it had stops at the airport and downtown. Building it on the strip would have helped as well.
And for #5:
Fontainebleau – Poor location and room design from the outset. Inexperienced management.
I’m going to go with City Center. Some highlights include:
the laughable idea that the strip needed another 4000 hotel rooms;
the debacle with the Harmon building not being built correctly and having to cut around 23 stories;
the questionable safety on the construction site (6 people died);
the pricing of the condos at $1000 / Sq Ft and higher.
This insane boondoggle almost bankrupted MGM-Mirage.
I love this article.
Before throwing out a few ideas, I also think the Monorail was a good idea, but incredibly badly implemented –the main issue being cost. I rode it once with some friends, realized it was some outrageous per-person price (in a city known for free valet and cabs everywhere), and vowed to never ride it again. I’m sure many others did the same. I was happy to hear about its bankruptcy, just like I’m happy when a restaurant with bad service closes in my city. I also agree with the Fontainebleau and Harmon nominees.
– I don’t know if this yet qualifies, but from a creative standpoint you have to give at least an honorable mention to the pairing of Criss Angel and Cirque du Soleil.
– Steve Wynn trying to bring smart-funny Broadway musicals to the strip. This one actually breaks my heart, but both Avenue Q and Spamalot were Vegas bombs. He assumed there would be enough people who appreciate that kind of humor, when a lot of rank and file are people who don’t appreciate that sort of thing (either due to language barrier or just a cultural disconnect). You’d assume some market surveying would’ve prevented that from happening.