You may have noticed that we made an emergency news post during the week. We didn’t think that the news about 18 Fremont and Wynn Paradise Park plans should wait until Sunday. Having said that this news post will be a little shorter than some others.
18 Fremont
After some thoughtful exchanges on Twitter, I took a second look at the nightclub plans for 18 Fremont (formerly Las Vegas Club). In my haste, I did read the request incorrectly. The request was for nightclub use and not a specific nightclub. That nightclub use request also includes the parking garage in case there’s a need to extend the party across the street.
Since that initial post, I noticed that the plans don’t include a request to have gaming on the pool deck. The way things stand is that there will be two levels of gaming with a sportsbook. The Las Vegas City Council will review the plans on June 20. I’m looking forward to more details on the new casino in downtown Las Vegas.
Wynn Paradise Park
The post-Steve Wynn era plans for Paradise Park are as limited as the most recent Wynn Resorts earnings call suggested. The hotel tower and theme park attractions are no longer part of the first phase. This phase includes a convention center, lagoon, beach club, pools, and restaurants. You can see a longer outline and link to the plans here.
The surprise here is that plans for Paradise Park say it should only use 56.6 acres. The remaining 85.6-acres of land will be a park of some sort. That’s a lot of unused land that won’t be generating revenue. We should hear more in a couple of months as the company reevaluates their plans.
Rumor of the week: Cosmopolitan about to be sold to Hard Rock
Vital Vegas is rumoring that the Cosmopolitan is on the market and about to be sold to Hard Rock. This isn’t much of a surprise. Blackstone Real Estate Partners paid $1.73 billion for the Cosmopolitan in 2014. Rumors of a sale aren’t new. MGM Resorts was rumored to have been sniffing around the Cosmopolitan just over a year ago. The real estate investment company has always planned to turn around the distressed asset and flip it for a profit. That’s kind of what they do.
Despite the name, the Hard Rock wasn’t actually a part of the Hard Rock casino family. The Hard Rock was once rumored to be buying the Hard Rock before it was sold to the Virgin Group.
The Cosmopolitan will definitely be sold at some point. There aren’t many casino operators that have access to the money needed for the purchase of the luxury casino. Having said that, Hard Rock seems more likely than some other casino operators to dive into such a pricey acquisition.
I give this rumor two grades on the rumor meter: Sale of Cosmopolitan – 100%, Sale to Hard Rock – 70%.
Related news: The Cosmopolitan is opening a unique quick-serve food court on the second floor of the casino. The new space will include Hattie B’s famous Hot Chicken. You can read about the other restaurants here.
Linq News
The Linq promenade and casino are both undergoing a slew of changes over the next year. One of the major additions to the shopping promenade this summer will be a sock store! WHO’S HAVING FUN?! Here’s a quick overview of some of the changes at The Linq.
- There will be massive construction in the promenade out to the Vegas Strip for the zip line during the summer. It will affect people walking and driving. Good thing it’s not already a busy part of the Vegas Strip. Read more here.
- A new virtuality reality experience opens at the promenade this month. Later this summer there will be a new gift shop and a sock store. Read more here.
- What’s bigger news? A sock store opening at The Linq or the world’s largest gummy bear store opening at The Linq? That’s a tough question. Read more here.
- Construction at The Linq casino is underway for Kind Heaven. There’s work being done around Tag bar (the best comp beer bar on the Vegas Strip) and I’m seeing tweets that it will close this summer. I haven’t confirmed with Caesars yet. I’ll share more when I hear more.
Taxi and Ride-Booking News
This week the Taxicab Authority approved cab drivers to take “parallel routes.” This would allow taxi driver the freedom to use these streets to avoid traffic on the Vegas Strip. Lyft and Uber drivers already use these routes. Unless I’m already on the Vegas Strip, my ride-booking services don’t drive on the Vegas Strip unless they have to. The parallel routes include Frank Sinatra Drive, Sammy Davis Jr. Drive, Koval Lane and Interstate 15. What could go wrong? Read more here.
Lyft announced that they will have a fleet of 30 autonomous cars hitting streets this week. These aren’t entirely driverless cars as there will be a “trained human” in the car. This non-driver will make sure the non-human driver has things under control and take over operations if necessary. Would you be interested in this kind of ride if I told you it might be free? Free rides might be possible. Read about the Vegas launch here. Read about self-driving cars from Lyft here.
Quick Hits
There are just a few nuggets of Vegas news leftover this week. Enjoy!
- There’s a candy store opening at the Bally’s Grand Bazaar Shops. Read more here.
- Palms and Palace Station renovations are still on track. Read more here.
- Caesars Entertainment plans to “fill the strip.” You should know this already from previous articles on TravelZork. Read more here.
- The iHeartRadio daytime show is moving to the entertainment grounds next to Circus Circus. Read more here.
- Speaking of Circus Circus, drone racing is coming soon! Read more here.
- MILF and DILF fun returns to Flamingo. Read more here.
Podcasters After Dark – May 26th 10PM
Seats assigned by purchase date, ORDER EARLY for the best seats! 🎙Podcasters After Dark!🎙 Saturday, May 26th in 🎰VEGAS🎰 at Treasure Island Hotel & Casino. (Book your hotel room at TI before May 4th!) Sponsored by The Bettor Life Podcast by Timothy Lawson. The evening features podcasters from Vital Vegas, You Can Bet on That and Travel Fanboy with your host Mr. Rosenthal and a special intro by our good friends at Vegas Confessions Podcast. Plus Moe (DJ) Cosagio (Vegas Untz) DJ’ing for the night!
ZorkFest – Memorial Day Weekend
Featuring Anthony Curtis of Las Vegas Advisor talking about “The LVA Way.” Also, Gilbert Ott of God Save the Points, Richard Kerr of Award Travel 101 and much much more. You do not want to miss this! Be sure to check out the BIOs of all the great ZorkFest speakers and our detailed schedule page. Travel Smarter!
[Great Opportunity] May 27th – Award Travel 101 Bootcamp
Sunday, May 27th – 10am
Award Travel 101 Bootcamp — 3 hour intensive boot camp taught by Richard Kerr and Howie for anyone who wants to learn the basics of award travel and set themselves up for their first award trip. Our teaching will start with all attendees selecting a travel goal to attain with points and miles and working them from the ground up to achieve that goal. Throughout the course we give practical examples/applications of the methods using attendees goals.
Three modules:
• The FICO score and the right ways to obtain/utilize credit cards while protecting credit score
• Transferable versus fixed redemption currencies and how to use them
• Hotel and Airline Loyalty Program basics
$99 per attendee. Each attendee gets 1 year of AwardWallet Plus ($30 value).
SIGN UP TODAY!
Need a Room? Memorial Day Weekend
May 24th to May 28th 2018
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