An extravagant taste of the Las Vegas Strip may be coming to the Boston, Mass. metropolitan area, as Nevada billionaire Steve Wynn, 72, has rolled out early plans to construct a large and elegant gambling casino and resort off the shores of the Mystic River in Everett.
The Boston Globe reported on Dec. 28 that Wynn revealed for the first time this past week sketchy plans on the preliminary layout of the resort and hotel. Wynn wants to replace the original high-rise design with a gently curving bronze tower reminiscent of his Wynn and Encore hotels in Las Vegas, Nev. “They want the excitement of Las Vegas?” he said in an interview with the Boston Globe. “We can give that.”
Wynn wants to build more hotel rooms in Everett, growing plans to about 630 rooms from 500. The projected cost of the Everett resort to $1.75 billion, up from $1.6 billion in September when Wynn’s riverfront project won the Greater Boston casino license over a competing plan by Mohegan Sun in Revere, Mass.
“If you do it right you can spend a billion-seven-five, which is as much as Bellagio cost,” said Wynn, chairman of Wynn Resorts, speaking of the extravagant Vegas casino he opened in 1998. “You can spend that in Boston — sophisticated, wealthy town with people who know the difference.”
The Boston Globe reported that a lot has to happen before the first hand of blackjack is dealt. Wynn Resorts plans to close on the proposed casino site just after Jan. 1 and to begin construction as soon as June, according to the company. The troubled former industrial site where the casino and resort would be built on is polluted and will need extensive cleanup, which a Wynn official said will start after the ground thaws in February or March.
Company officials have said they hope to open the resort in late 2017.
