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 its current resort towers.

• Although Steve Wynn purchased the land in 2017 to develop a new resort, momentum stalled after his resignation.

• Wynn has started to "doodle" concepts for this parcel per a November 2026 earnings call.

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 of 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 was imploded in November 2007.

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 on his last earnings call with the company (Q4 2017), saying the connected property would have 2,000-3,000 rooms and that he 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 reins of Wynn Resorts.

Maddox quickly deviated from his former boss's vision, scrapping plans for investment in Las Vegas and instead focusing on capital investment in Macau, where he saw a more substantial return on investment.

In a sharp U-turn, Wynn Resorts re-engaged the golf course's original designer, Tom Fazio, to redesign and restore the portion of the links ripped up by construction of the Paradise Park Lagoon.

Wynn Resorts realized 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 restoring the course will generate $10 - $15 million in gaming revenue annually.

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.

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 would the project not break ground in 2020, but they were 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.

The Wynn leadership team is shifting investment dollars away from Las Vegas and toward regions where the perceived value is stronger. Macau expansion, Encore Boston Harbor, and a new resort on Al Marjan Island in the UAE are the clear focus to return value to shareholders in the near term.

Fast forward to November 2026, and there are glimmers of hope.

CEO Craig Billings mentioned on an earnings call that Wynn has started to "doodle" concepts for the land, adding, "What relationship that property might have to our existing assets and how we might be able to build probably at a lower all-in dollar cost than a freestanding integrated resort by leveraging its relationship to Wynn and Encore."

In the words of Andy Dufresne in "The Shawshank Redemption": Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies".

He may have been referring to Wynn West.

Project Updates

November 2026 Update: CEO Craig Billings said on an earnings call that they've started to "doodle" concepts for the parcel.

May 2026 Update: "We certainly will expand in Las Vegas eventually. When that is, you know, we'll see. We'll get there when we get there."

This, from the Wynn Resorts Q1 earnings call.

Clearly, no rush.

Also pointed out that Resorts World & Fontainebleau "Did not grow visitation to Las Vegas, and thus they had to be share takers in order to drive their business... That's a particular dynamic that I think you have to pay attention to."

November 2025 Update: Wynn still owns the land, but has paved over the barren ground, indicating nothing is planned in the immediate future. Soft tourism comps in Vegas aren't exactly screaming "build a new resort" either.

August 2024 Update: Although the land remains vacant with no firm plans, Wynn CEO Craig Billings stated that "It's a matter of when, not if, we develop land in Las Vegas."

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!