Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
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HAUTE PROPERTY The guest entrance of SLS Hotel Beverly Hills; SLS's Vegas location is set to open in fall 2014. continued from page 135 The $185 million top-to-toe renovation will create 188 guest rooms and suites, with Parisian apartment – style interiors from Tandem Las Vegas. Leo A Daly, the firm behind Vdara, is the architect. A 40,000-square-foot casino and common area, including a revamped lobby, ultralounge, and retail shop, is part of the makeover. There will be new additions, too. Victor Drai, the impresario behind XS and Tryst, is opening a 65,000-square-foot, palm tree–lined rooftop beach and nightclub, with cabanas, a splash pool, bars, and a dance floor. The club's southwest corner will feature a glass-railed balcony that juts over the sidewalk. Drai's After Hours will return to its original location once Gansevoort Las Vegas debuts in early 2014. "Drai's After Hours has been a staple of Las Vegas for the past 15 years," Drai says. "I'm thrilled to entertain guests in this beautiful rooftop venue and be able to reintroduce Drai's to the resort." Meanwhile, late revelers will soon be reintro- duced to the venerable Sahara on the north Strip. The shuttered 27-story hotel and casino, originally built by Del E. Webb, is being made over as the SLS Las Vegas (slshotels.com). The $415 million upgrade will create 1,371 rooms and 251 suites, as well as a new dining experience from star chef José Andrés. SLS hopes to reclaim some of the swagger from the Sahara's heyday, when Johnny Carson, Frank Sinatra, and Liza Minnelli were familiar fixtures and the property served as a backdrop for films like Viva Las Vegas and the original Ocean's 11. The makeover, spearheaded by SBE, calls for nine restaurants, four nightclubs, a multipurpose room, and meeting spaces, as well as 10,000 square feet of bars and lounges. As SLS's exclusive retailer, Fred Segal (aka Nirvana, for LA fashionistas) will operate a 10,000-square-foot retail emporium, including seven Segalbranded boutiques. In addition, there will be a cracking pool party area, with cabanas, a show stage, and a cocktail and snack bar. "We see the northern end of the Strip as the future of Las Vegas," says SBE Chairman Sam Nazarian. "Las Vegas has recovered steadily in the past year, and we're excited to be able to inject capital back into the local economy." Philippe Starck is overseeing the metamorphosis. SLS marks his first Vegas resort, and it's among his largest hotel projects to date, similar in scale to SLS South Beach. The globe-trotting French super-designer is responsible for such iconic products as the Louis Ghost chair, as well as the interior of LA's Mondrian and SLS's first hotel, in Beverly Hills. Starck is partnered with Gensler, CityCenter's executive architect, on the renovation. Scheduled to open in the fall of 2014, SLS Las Vegas will include another celebrity magnet, Katsuya, plus a reinvention of SBE's original nightlife concept, Shelter. "The addition of chic boutique hotel operators to the Strip is another example of Las Vegas reinventing itself for a new generation of visitors, which is something the city does extremely well," says John Restrepo, principal of RCG Economics, a Vegas-based business advisory group. "Las Vegas is particularly adept and creative at remaining relevant as a mustsee destination." V PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF DELANO SOUTH BEACH (POOL); SLS HOTEL AT BEVERLY HILLS (ENTRANCE, KATSUYA); BY BRAD SWONETZ (NAZARIAN) "Reinventing itself for a new generation is something the city does extremely well."—JOHN RESTREPO LEFT: Katsuya Hollywood, designed by Philippe Starck, will have a Vegas counterpart. ABOVE: Delano South Beach. INSET: SBE's Sam Nazarian, the mogul behind SLS's Sahara takeover. 136 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 135-136_V_BOB_HP_Opener_Sept13.indd 136 8/5/13 7:40 PM