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Wynn West to Remain a Figment of our Imagination


Key Points:

  • Wynn Resorts owns a vacant plot of land, once home to the New Frontier, across the Strip from their current resort towers.
  • Although Steve Wynn purchased the land in 2017 with the intent of developing a new resort, momentum stalled after his resignation.
  • Wynn Resorts doesn’t appear motivated to move forward with a project at this current time.

Wynn Resorts’ 2017 purchase of 38 barren acres just north of the Fashion Show Mall seems like it occurred an eternity ago in the aftermath of Steve Wynn’s fall from grace.

The parcel, snapped up by Wynn Resorts for $336 Million was the former home to the New Frontier which was cleared to make way for a number of projects (Plaza Las Vegas / Alon) that never came to fruition.

The lot has been vacant since the New Frontier’s November 2007 implosion.

Satalite image of Wynn West site
Former Alon/Wynn West site – Image Courtesy Google Earth

Fast forward to 2017 – Steve Wynn purchased the land with plans for future development that would “Further change tourist visitation patterns in Las Vegas drawing more visitors to the north end of Las Vegas Blvd and its collection of luxury resorts”. Wynn further elaborated on the new Wynn West property during his last earnings call with the company (Q4 2017) saying the connected property was to have 2,000-3,000 rooms and hoped to have renderings in 4-5 months.

Unfortunately, for the Wynn West and the Paradise Park Lagoon projects, Steve was forced to resign and Matt Maddox took the reigns of Wynn Resorts.

Maddox quickly deviated from the vision of the founder, scrapping plans for investment in Las Vegas and instead focusing on capital investment in Macau where he perceived return on investment to be more substantial.

Wynn and Encore Exteriors
Maddox moved quickly to deny Wynn and Encore a little brother.

In a sharp U-Turn, Wynn Resorts re-engaged their golf course’s original designer Tom Fazio to re-design and recover the portion of the links that was ripped up by the construction of the Paradise Park Lagoon.

Wynn Resorts came to realize the golf course was quite the asset after all. In addition to green fees ($300-$500 a pop x 16,000 annual rounds), golfers apparently drop a pretty penny in the casino before and after their rounds. Wynn estimates restoration of the course will equate to a gaming revenue gain of $10 – $15 million annually.

Golf green with Wynn hotel tower in the background
Wynn Golf Club – Credit: Brian Oar/Wynn Resorts

Along with ditching the Lagoon project, Maddox slammed the brakes on Wynn West.

In Maddox’s first earnings call at the helm of Wynn Resorts (Q1 2018) he made clear that the $3 billion Steve Wynn had slated for Las Vegas development to include the Wynn West and Lagoon projects was unsustainable and that he wanted to prioritize projects in Macau where the return on investment was more immediate.

Even a year after Steve Wynn’s resignation, Wynn West’s fate was as murky as ever.

In a January 30, 2019 earnings conference call, CFO Craig Billings had this to say about the status of the Wynn West project “These projects typically take about five years. There’s a couple of years of design and development and maybe I should have said something different. It’s a couple of years of design. So I think we are a couple of years away from actually being able to answer what that project and budget will look like.”

Not only will the project not break ground in 2020, but they are still “a couple of years away” from being able to share what the project or budget will look like. Not promising.

On a positive note, Billings later pointed out that a property with “more rooms, more casino, more slots, and more retail is not going to cut it”. If this thing ever gets off the ground (and that’s a big if) it could be a unique resort experience worth the wait. In an era of de-theming and stripping resorts of personality “different” is exactly what Vegas needs.

It’s clear that the Wynn leadership team is shifting investment dollars away from Las Vegas and instead, diverting them to regions where bang for the buck is perceived to be stronger. Macau expansion, Encore Boston Harbor, and a new resort in UAE are the clear focus to return value to shareholders in the near term.

The land intended for Wynn West could be flipped to another developer or Wynn Resorts could be waiting to gauge if other projects on the north end of the Strip (Resorts World, Fontainebleau, etc.) actually come to fruition (and show signs of success) before going vertical with construction.

What has been made abundantly clear, however, is that the leadership team at Wynn Resorts doesn’t view Las Vegas as their primary growth lever in the immediate future.

Don’t hold your breath.

October 2023 Update: The FAA has cleared the way for the construction of a 699-foot tall tower on the vacant site. While the approval was requested by Wynn Resorts, they also stated there are no immediate plans to move forward.

June 2023 Update: Wynn Resorts has been quiet about the vacant land and it still sits empty with no development plans in sight.

July 2022 Update: In an interview with the Nevada Independent, new CEO Craig Billings responded to a question about the empty land once slated for Wynn West by saying “We do have land across the street, but we have other plans for the company”.

May 2022 Update: Wynn Resorts still owns the vacant land originally slated to be home to the Wynn West project. No further details have been shared on what, if anything, is to come. In a related note, Matt Maddox has decided to step down as CEO, with former CFO Craig Billings taking his place. It’ll be interesting to see Billings’ approach to the parcel of land and the Wynn West project.

At this point, the only question seems to be when Wynn Resorts will sell the land.

Related: The Newest Resorts in Las Vegas – In Progress & Already Open!

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