Wynn Resorts OKs $1.5B lagoon-themed Las Vegas project

Dive Brief:

The Wynn Resorts board has given the go-ahead for construction of the $1.5 billion Paradise Park, a new resort in Las Vegas featuring a 20-acre lagoon, according to CNBC.
Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn, who shared project details during an earnings call Tuesday, said the resort will include a white-sand beachfront for the lagoon, a boardwalk, cabanas and restaurants, and convention space, as well as "a couple of thousand" hotel rooms. The project will be built next to Wynn's existing Las Vegas casino and resort.
Aside from attracting gamblers, Wynn said the company wanted to draw families.

Dive Insight:

Developers are increasingly considering what families want in a vacation destination as they try to tap into that lucrative market. In Atlantic City, NJ, R&R Development Group is converting the former Atlantic Club casino into a resort with an indoor water park. The 300-room complex will eschew gambling. It plans to open at the end of this year. The Atlantic Club was also the site of the former Golden Nugget, a Steve Wynn casino.

Wynn is also building a $2.1 billion casino complex near Boston, in Everett, MA. The project will face competition from the local Mashpee Wampanoag tribe's $500 million First Light Resort & Casino, south of Boston, as both attempt to draw gamblers and families. First Light will feature a 25,000-square-foot water park, along with a casino, 600 hotel rooms, an event center, restaurants and retail space.

Billing their two latest projects as retail amusement parks, developers of the American Dream malls in Florida and New Jersey have also incorporated the seemingly requisite water park into their plans. Pending state approval, the Miami-Dade property would be the largest mall in the U.S., with more than 6 million square feet of commercial space, 2,000 hotel rooms, 3.5 million square feet of retail and 1.5 million square feet of entertainment areas.

In addition to a water park, the American Dream Meadowlands project, in New Jersey, will also include an indoor ski slope and an amusement park. Construction there recently restarted after financing hurdles were overcome.