Vegas $4.8B Mega Resort Project Halted Amid Market Decline
Las Vegas, a city known for its grand gestures, prides itself on thinking big – maybe too big, given the slumping economy. On Aug. 1, one of the city's longtime casino operators, Boyd Gaming, suspended construction on its $4.8-billion, 5,000-room Echelon mega-resort project citing "challenging economic conditions" and "the difficult environment surrounding today's capital markets." The company will delay work by at least a year, immediately placing 800 construction trades out of work. The move caused Boyd stock (NYSE: BYD) to jump 20%, to $12.01, for its steepest gain since April 2000. Boyd has already spent $500 million on the 12-million-sq-ft. project. The development, which is 12 stories out of the ground, was originally scheduled to finish by the third quarter of 2010. The eight-building complex broke ground June 19, 2007, at the 87-acre site of the former Stardust hotel-casino. Tishman Construction Corp., New York City, is the construction manager, with Marnell Corrao Associates, Las Vegas, as the main concrete subcontractor.
"Las Vegas is definitely more schedule driven than other markets," Daniel P. McQuade, president of Tishman Construction Corp. of Nevada, told ENR earlier this year. "It's geared toward getting projects done quickly. There is more equipment on a Las Vegas project running more hours a week."