Six miles south of the Strip on Las Vegas Boulevard, two relative newcomers to the gaming business are betting big on resorts that aim to create an alternative for tourists.
Anthony Marnell III last week received preliminary approvals to build the M Resort, a $1.8 billion mixed-use casino, resort and commercial center on 79 acres at the southeast corner of St. Rose Parkway and Las Vegas Boulevard.
Marnell, who founded a software company called Tririga, is president and chief executive of M Resort. He will continue to run the software company.
Marnell is the son of prominent casino developer and builder Anthony Marnell II, better known as Tony Marnell. Tony Marnell's firm, Marnell Corrao Associates, will design and build the M Resort.
The firm built Wynn Las Vegas and Bellagio. Tony Marnell also built and operated the Rio before selling it to Harrah's for $888 million in 1999.
Across the boulevard from Anthony Marnell's project, Olympia Gaming received approval from the Clark County Commission earlier this month to build the Southern Highlands Resort. The previously announced resort, part of another mixed-use development to take shape on about 100 acres, would ultimately cost more than $2 billion.
Olympia Gaming founder Garry Goett, developer of the nearby Southern Highlands master-planned community, also owns the Casino Fandango in Carson City.
Both resorts, conceived and developed independent of one another, are expected to begin construction next year for planned openings in 2008.
Both developers say their projects will ultimately benefit from having competition nearby, creating an eye-catching resort district that will lure people driving into Las Vegas from California as well as locals and tourists from further away.
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Source - Las Vegas Sun
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