The W Las Vegas has crapped out. The hotel and residences were set to open sometime in 2009 but it looks like Edge Resorts has cancelled the project.
A HotelChatter tipster, who was actually set to become a W Las Vegas condo owner, pointed us to a letter he received and subsequently posted on CondoHotel Forum:
Construction costs and financing requirements have grown considerably as we have pursued the development of this project, and it has become extremely difficult to successfully get the costs under control in order to make a proposed project such as ours feasible. As you are likely aware, many proposed projects in Las Vegas are either going on "hold" or being canceled.
We appreciate your patience as we have attempted to deal with these issues. Unfortunately, after thorough analysis and discussion, we have decided to cancel the proposed W Las Vegas Residences project. Our contractual license to develop the W Las Vegas expires on May 18, 2007
Indeed the W Las Vegas web site used to be all flash fancy but now it simply says, "For information regarding the W Las Vegas project, please call 702-731-1300."
The project was probably doomed from the start but it didn't help that Edge Resorts snapped up George Clooney's failure, Las Ramblas in the hopes of developing something that would complement the W Las Vegas.
Now, we will give W the benefit of the doubt and say that all hope for a W Las Vegas is not lost. Some other developer could come in and take over the project but don't expect any Whatever/Whenever service before the decade is out.
In the end, the moral of the story is don't put up billboards around town for your hotel unless you are sure it's going to happen.
It was months ago, January to be exact, when the W Las Vegas Hotel & Residences premiered at the Sundance Festival. VIP guests were treated to a simulated Living Room of the future hotel, a taste of what the nightlife would be like as Amanda Scheer-Demme would be running the hotel's lounge, a first-ever poker tourney and were even allowed to reserve a condo.
But since then, the hype for this hotel has been a little too quiet. We wondered if the place was indeed going to end up as another Las Ramblas, (Clooney's Vegas failure) as a Standard & Poor's report predicted months ago.
Which is why we got in touch with a spokesperson at Edge Resorts, the development company behind the W (in partnership with Starwood Hotels.) Maggie Feldman lets us know that the W Las Vegas is scheduled to open in 2009. Above is a rendering of a room with a view.
Additionally, the first release of condo offerings in the hotel have been sold out and they are once again taking reservations for the second set of condos. And the LA boutique store Fred Segal will open up a shop within the hotel.
We even got the latest word on Las Ramblas, which Edge Resorts snapped up a few months ago. Turns out Edge will plan a resort-casino project that will "complement" the W Las Vegas.
We're not exactly sure what "complement"means, but we got at least three years to figure it out. Let's just hope Clooney didn't render the land useless.
Richard Gere's very own hotel project, a 14-acre country hotel in Bedford, New York, has been turned down by the town who said the plans did not include any handicap access.
Gere and his partner Russell Hernandez spent $2.7 million on the property "with hopes of converting the 18th century barn into an upmarket complex, complete with country inn and restaurant."
For now the duo are going back to the drawing board to figure out how to keep the barn's historic structure while modernizing the entrances for handicap access.
We don't like to bring up Las Ramblas but it's worth a mention here. However, at least Gere had some plans to put forth before a town board. Clooney and friends didn't even get that far.
Thanks to the extraordinary crash and burn of the George Clooney fronted project, Las Ramblas, people are looking closely at the constant Hotel Hype that floods Las Vegas practically every day.
Standard & Poors (an institution that essentially grades companies and their well-being for stock investment purposes) decided to evaluate all these risky, expensive Vegas plans and tell you which ones are safe bets.
On the list are:
· Palazzo: a 3,025 room annex to the Venetian which is already under construction and is planned to open in 2007. · Encore: Wynn's sequel project will most likely happen just because Steve Wynn's behind it. · Project CityCenter: MGM Mirage has already begun demolition to make way for this $7 billion construction project that will include "nearly 8,000 hotel and condo units, plus retail, casino, entertainment and more." S&P says this will certainly happen by 2010.
Now for the risky side:
· The Cosmopolitan: Essentially a $2 billion Hyatt hotel planned for just south of Bellagio. · The Fountainbleau: A 4,000 room hotel inspired by the famous Miami property to be located across from Circus Circus. · W Las Vegas: This is a shocker considering that the chain has been hyping this condo-tel for so long we almost thought it already existed.
Always the optimist, we do hope none of these projects end up being dinner table jokes like Las Ramblas did but projects like Maxim's proposed casino just might. Oh wait, it already is a joke.
The $3 billion Related casino-hotel-condo project was to be backed by George Clooney, Rande Gerber would do the nightlife and Brad Pitt may have hopped in the mix as well.
Then Clooney went on Larry King Live and kept muttering "Mandatory Jackets." Soon rumors surfaced that the project was being pushed back. Finally, the whole thing fell to shambles.
Now, the Las Vegas Business Press analyzes what went wrong here and tries to find the answer as to how this project went from major news to a joke told at "local happy hours and dinner parties."
The biggest emerging factor for the demise is that it was too costly and didn't even offer views of the strip. Said one realtor:
The Las Ramblas concept and idea was beautiful, but it was too dense with 11 towers sandwiched between Hard Rock and the W. And it had no views of the Strip.
The property is expected to be sold within two weeks to Edge Resorts, the folks behind the W Las Vegas. Sadly, this is the third time developer Related has tried to break into Vegas and failed. But perhaps not all is lost. The lot is expected to sell at a higher price than when bought last year.
So last week, we heard some rumors that George Clooney's mandatory jacket hotel-casino Las Ramblas was on the rocks and on Saturday, it seemed official that the proposed Vegas project has crapped out.
The NY Post reported over the weekend that the hotel's lot could be sold off to a W Hotel partnership. This may or may not mean the land would be added to the W Las Vegas but a spokesperson for the Related investment and development group said the company is "exploring several options."
Damn that Robin Leach! He gets all the good scoops. This one comes after the local partners of Oscar winner George Clooney's multi-billion dollar Las Ramblas condo-resort hotel complex "admitted Friday that their construction costs have doubled since the original $3.5 billion venture was proposed."
Robin Leach reports that:
"It may not be quite the same as was first envisioned, but Clooney isn't saying 'good night and good luck' to it," one of the executives there told me over the weekend. "We'll have a positive announcement very shortly about the complex, which will probably become far more hotel-casino oriented than a residential development."
Maybe these investors got scared about Clooney's hazy intent to donate 25 percent of the profits to an African relief fund and to install a mandatory jacket code.
Did anyone else think Clooney looked downright uncomfortable talking about Las Ramblas on Larry King last night.
Granted, it is hard for anyone to have a conversation with ... these days but still, check out part of their awkward exchange:
Larry King: So you are building a hotel?
George Clooney: The one thing Las Vegas can use is a place where you have to put on a jacket.
Larry King: Where is it? There is land in Las Vegas?
George Clooney: Yeah, 25 acres--we own--right next to Hard Rock--well the company owns, which I am a part of.
Larry King (incredulously): A group of investors!
George Clooney (sheepishly): Yes, but 25% I am donating to African Relief. 25% of the venture.
Larry King (incredulously): So you will not make money with this venture!
George Clooney (confused): We'll see--I could--who knows.
Larry King: What is it called?
George Clooney (we are summarizing here): Las Ramblas, after the street in Barcelona, because there is going to be a street up and down, it is a big project, everyone put on a jacket when Rosy sang, I remember going to the airport and putting on a tie.
Larry King: Yes! Airports. Ties. Walking to school uphill in the snow, four miles each way--I am old enough to remember all this too!
Larry King (brilliantly segueing, and this part is word for word): So are you going to have children?
George Clooney (sarcastically): Yes. Right after this show. I am thinking of adopting.
Larry King: You can adopt. Several people adopt.
Thank god they stopped talking about the Vegas hotel and returned to yammering on about nothing, it was obvious Clooney was clueless about the hotel project. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at the Las Ramblas board meetings...
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by juliana
Richard Gere's very own hotel project, a 14-acre country hotel in Bedford, New York, has been turned down by the town who said the plans did not include any handicap access.
Thanks to the extraordinary crash and burn of the George Clooney fronted project, Las Ramblas, people are looking closely at the constant Hotel Hype that floods Las Vegas practically every day.
Remember the good old Las Ramblas days?
So 
