.jpg)
"Here we come!” Robin Martinelli of Chicago squealed as she strutted through the crystal-clean glass doors of the new Durango Casino and Resort, her 70-year-old legs bouncing to the beat of Hall and Oates’ 1982 classic “Maneater.” “I’m so excited!” she said with a mischievous grin. “A brand new casino! I just want to dance.”
Until early December, it had been two years since a new casino had opened in Las Vegas. Then, within just a matter of days, two long-percolating resorts threw open their doors to an eager public: Station Casinos' latest “affordable luxury” property for locals, Durango, and the Strip’s newest temple to excess, Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
The two casinos are wildly different – Durango, all sandstone and natural light, designed to appeal to area residents and regional travelers; Fontainebleau, a towering monument to bombast, sure attracts Sin City’s big spenders – but they share two key attributes. The first is a devotion to luxury and style. While Fontainebleau’s $3.7bn price tag dwarfs Durango’s $750m in development costs, the planners of both projects clearly went out of their way to create spaces reeking of sophistication and elegance.
Durango, situated off-Strip in Summerlin, a master-planned community in the Las Vegas Valley, boasts two high-limit rooms and three private gaming salons, off-set by polished metals and vases of vibrant, fresh flowers, which staff say will be one of the calling cards of the new resort. Floor-to-ceiling windows bathe the 83,000 square feet of gaming space in natural light while signature restaurants like Mijo Modern Mexican offer a variety of dining spaces, each with a unique identity from chic and contemporary to contemplative and zen. Mijo also has a hip speakeasy that plays only vinyl records, its entrance hidden within the restaurants more than 40 tequila lockers.
Fontainebleau, rising 68 stories on the north end of the Strip across Las Vegas Boulevard, across from Circus Circus and next door to the Wynn, is by all accounts dazzling, with soaring overhangs and art-deco styling. White marble and deep blue fabrics spread throughout the property to create an ocean-like aesthetic in the middle of the desert. Seemingly everywhere you look, the resort’s signature bow tie motif is incorporated. In the marble, carpet and crystal chandeliers, it gives the 173,000-square-foot gaming area and surrounding spaces just a little touch of whimsy to go along with its over-the-top opulence.
In fact, despite the property’s overwhelming scale, with its impossibly high, scalloped ceilings that look almost like waves, Fontainebleau captivates with its attention to detail. The carefully textured wallpapers, the almost seamless mix of natural light and artificial mood lighting and its funky gold and – of course – curved light fixtures seem to lurk around every bend.
But it’s not just an attention to style, flair and detail that Fontainebleau shares with Durango. Just as notable is the fact that both resorts took quite a while to be completed... Station Casinos purchased the land on which Durango was built in 2000 and simply waited for the community to mature around it before planning the actual resort. In many ways, Durango is a testament to Station Casinos' patient process for identifying and developing properties. Fontainebleau’s story – as Sin City fans know all too well – is a tad shorter but far more dramatic.
Construction on the great blue tower – the tallest occupiable building in Nevada – began in 2007. But funding for the project was cut off during the grim years of the Great Recession, leaving the unfinished building hulking on Las Vegas Boulevard for more than a decade. The property changed hands multiple times before it was reacquired by the Fontainebleau brand and was finally, mercifully, finished – but not before it had become something of an unfortunate reference point to locals and visitors alike. However, no one was laughing at Fontainebleau’s grand opening on December 13. Quite the opposite, in fact.
“This has become a reality,” said Mark Tricano, the President of Fontainebleau Las Vegas at the casino’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. It was held in the resort’s south lobby in the shadow of a towering, 46-foot sculpture of twisting aluminum, stainless steel and gold leaf by artist Urs Fischer known as Lovers #3, which depicts two forms coming together.
“Our story of nearly 20 years in the making is a story of resilience,” Tricano explained to the hundreds of ceremony attendees. “This is going to be an attraction to help the entire city thrive,” said Steve Hill, the CEO and President of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which markets Las Vegas internationally. “You couldn’t make this story up,” he said, calling the twisting and turning tale of Fontainebleau’s development something that not even a Hollywood movie producer would believe. “Thank you for this beautiful building,” Hill added in the direction of the Fontainebleau team. “Thanks for getting it done.”
Meanwhile, Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom presented Fontainebleau Development CEO and Chairman Jeffrey Soffer a ceremonial key to the Strip, noting that usually the commission doesn’t grant such an honor to a property on its opening day. But given the building’s long lead-up time, Segerblom thought it was appropriate an exception was made in this case. “I think we’re finished now,” Soffer said. “Actually, we’re just getting started!”
Even as the ceremony was held, complete with violinists and waitresses roaming the well-dressed crowd with platters of champaign flutes, men in hard hats and neon yellow vests scurried all over the property making final, finishing touches. Carts packed with hand tools blocked many hallways and, occasionally, the whir of power tools was heard over the music playing on the loudspeakers.
Still, even as Soffer joked that the building was not yet complete – “I still see things that don’t look quite right,” he said – his partner, Brett Mufson, the President of Fontainebleau Development, boasted “Fontainebleau is a name that stands for exceptionalism,” and that the brand originating from the beaches of South Florida is “reinventing luxury time and again,” now with a show-stopping location in Sin City. “I can’t wait to get off this stage and enjoy the party,” Mufson said.
When the speeches all ended, a large crowd gathered on the stage, backed by the resort’s signature navy blue and gold color scheme, and cut with several gold scissors a blue ribbon that looked to be nearly a foot wide. “One, two, three!” a woman shouted right before the scissors snipped the ribbon, igniting whoops, cheers and applause.
After the ceremony, dragon dancers – a symbol of good luck in Asian cultures and often present at celebrations – posed for photographs with attendees. In the main lobby, special guests were already streaming to the reception desk with their luggage trailing behind them.
Sixty-year-old Paul Moore, a consultant to Fontainebleau who came to the grand opening from Southern California, stood with his wife, looking around the wide-open space, with its high-arching ceiling and ornate, clear columns that gave the area an almost-futuristic, space-age vibe, while still feeling chic, of course. “We just got here, but so far it looks amazing,” Moore said. “It looks pretty,” his wife, Betsy added. Moore marveled at how the project was finally completed. “You had to be committed. You couldn’t be faint of heart to pull this off,” he said.
Durango’s grand opening, a week prior on December 5, was no less energetic, if perhaps on a less grandiose scale. Visitors lined up outside for more than an hour before its 10am opening, waiting to see the latest locals’ resort. “Aw hell nah! People are lining up?” a member of the crew quipped as staff scurried about the casino floor, readying Durango for its very first visitors. “We got this!” shouted another staff member in the final moments leading up to the doors opening. “We got this, Station!”
Outside the main entrance, executives gathered to cut a giant gold ribbon with giant gold scissors. “We’re excited to usher in the next era of Station Casino Resorts,” said Scott Kreeger, President of Red Rock Resorts, owner of the Station Casinos brand, to the gathered crew, media and other dignitaries. “Welcome to our friendly oasis in the desert!” he said.
Durango was designed with foodies and sports lovers in mind. At its “Eat Your Heart Out” food hall, Durango visitors can sample a variety of eclectic cuisines in what you’d call a ‘communal dining experience.’ The 25,000 square-foot area features an Irv’s Burgers (from Los Angeles), a Prince Street Pizza (from New York) and a Fiorella by Marc Vetri (from Philadelphia), among other vendors.
The George Sportsmen’s Lounge, another of the Durango’s stylish restaurants, was built specifically to overlook the casino’s ultra-modern (and very curvy) sportsbook. “The TVs are big enough that I can look like I’m paying attention to my wife and watching the game,” joked Jonathan Fine, the CEO of Fine Entertainment and force behind The George, on a tour of the facility the day before the grand opening.
The George, like the sportsbook itself, seeks to make sports gaming a social experience. Its green-ringed, outdoor patio has enough space for patrons to play cornhole. The sportsbook itself has a variety of seating options at varying elevations, with coordinated screens on the walls and above the bar, virtually guaranteeing no bad seat in the house and an “absolutely game-changing experience” as Jason McCormick, the VP of Race and Sports at Station Casinos, described it modestly on the media tour.
Durango’s first visitors on opening day almost universally remarked on the property’s natural light and open spaces, which they said stood in sharp contrast to some of Vegas’ other, dimmer casinos.
“Beautiful!” said Cindy McConnell, 64, of Santa Clarita, California, just moments after walking in with her friend, Jeanne Stojkovic, a Las Vegas local. “It seems very open. Brightness!” “You never get windows,” chimed in Stojkovic, 56, who as a Las Vegas local is exactly the demographic Station is targeting with Durango.
Steve Perez, 70, wandered quietly among the throng of early visitors, nodding approvingly at Durango’s décor. “I like the place. I like the arrangement,” the retiree said. But he had to admit, as much as he liked the Durango, another resort was on his mind. “I’m waiting for the Fontainebleau,” he said.
Indeed, Fontainebleau’s grand opening a week later was a spectacle in the most Las Vegas way possible, with an evening firework display and none other than pop superstar Justin Timberlake performing at a VIP-only party late on the 13th, before the doors officially opened to the rest of the public just before midnight. For those keeping track, that was apparently the “SexyBack” singer’s first live show in four years. You can’t get more Vegas than that, baby.
