LAS VEGAS -- The
Palms Casino Resort is undergoing a $600 million augmentation that
will give it two new towers. The project will add a 40-story hotel
with "themed" luxury suites and the first recording studio ever for
a Las Vegas hotel-casino plus a 599-unit condo-hotel property
called Palms Place, according to owner George Maloof.
The hotel tower,
which will be part of the Palms, is under construction, with the
bulk of new rooms and venues opening throughout 2006.
The second tower,
which will break ground next year and open in 2007, will stand
adjacent to the casino property and connect to it via a moving
walkway.
"The whole
concept of the [hotel] tower is that it will have its own
identity," Maloof said. "It won't look like the existing tower, and
the experience will start right when people come in from the
casino. And it will be packed with a lot of fun things, like a
recording studio."
The
8,000-square-foot studio will have the equipment needed to enable
artists to record from remote units in their suites. It also will
have a screening room and lounge for VIP guests.
The building will
offer 347 guest rooms and suites, including 46 megasuites and sky
penthouses that will complement the existing Palms' specialty
suites: Playpens with dancer poles, the Real World Suite (as seen
on MTV's "Real World: Las Vegas") and NBA suites with extra-large
furniture.
"With our
expansion, we will design some of the most extraordinary and unique
luxury suites," Maloof said.
They will include
themed party suites, complete with extra sound insulation, swimming
pools and fireplaces; some will feature basketball courts or
bowling alleys, Maloof said. The suites will be accessible from a
private entrance.
The new tower
also will contain a mix of dining, entertainment and nightlife
locations, including two restaurants and a high-end Playboy lounge
and themed retail venue that Maloof described as "a kind of
reinvention of the original Playboy Club."
It will also
contain a 2,200-seat showroom, 60,000 square feet of meetings
space, a pool complex with private bungalows and a handful of
specialty retail shops.
No details have
been finalized on these project elements, Maloof said, although he
noted that, "we've looked at [a signature production for the
showroom]. That's a possibility."
The existing
Palms property debuted four years ago at a cost of $265
million.
The 430-room
boutique resort offers a 95,000-square-foot casino, a 14-screen
Brenden Theatres Cineplex that is home to the annual CineVegas Film
Festival, the Palms Spa and AMP salon, Hart and Huntington Tattoo
Co. and a mix of restaurants and nightspots that includes N9NE
Steakhouse, Alize, Rain Las Vegas, Ghostbar and the Skin Pool
Lounge.
The property also
features more than 20,000 square feet of meetings space.
For more
information about the Palms, call (866) 725-6773 or visit www.palms.com; for
groups of 10 rooms or more, contact the sales department at (866)
725-6768.
To contact
reporter Amy Baratta, send e-mail to[email protected].