Long-Abandoned Site Across From Mandalay Bay Approved for Bold-Looking Casino Project
Clark County commissioners have approved a plan to transform a long-abandoned site across from Mandalay Bay into a 752-room casino resort featuring a giant heart-shaped facade, a suspended restaurant held up by abandoned ferris wheel supports, and a LED screen. The project, developed by Eli Applebaum, will repurpose concrete columns originally built for the SkyVue Las Vegas Super Wheel.
The Las Vegas Strip might get a bold new landmark in the next few years. On Wednesday, Clark County commissioners approved a plan to develop land across from Mandalay Bay into a 752-room casino resort, featuring a hotel tower with a giant, heart-shaped façade.
The ambitious project includes a massive LED screen on the heart-shaped façade, a covered pedestrian plaza, and a restaurant suspended over 250 feet in the air. The eatery will be supported by the skeletal remains of a long-abandoned project: two giant concrete columns originally built for the 500-foot SkyVue Las Vegas Super Wheel. A third column will be added and the other two reinforced to form a tripod for the restaurant.
Background of the Blight Site
The site was originally intended for SkyVue, a proposed ferris wheel complex by Compass Investments’ Howard Bulloch. The first phase, including the wheel's supports, was completed in 2012, but financial issues halted development. Bulloch put the land up for sale in 2015, and in 2020, a bankruptcy court approved a sale to businessman Wayne Perry for $75 million.
Perry achieved little with the site. In 2023, his family sold eight acres to the Clark County Department of Aviation for $16.2 million. This past April, Eli Applebaum, the developer of the new casino project, acquired the remaining land.
Applebaum originally planned a hotel with over 100 more rooms, but shortened the tower by several stories to secure Federal Aviation Administration approval.
The project is still in early stages, with no announced timeline for construction.
FAQ
- It is a 752-room casino resort with a hotel tower featuring a giant heart-shaped façade, an LED screen, a covered pedestrian plaza, and a restaurant suspended 250 feet in the air, supported by repurposed concrete columns from the abandoned SkyVue project.