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UPSCALE SHOPS AT WYNN LAS VEGAS WILL THRIVE, EXPERTS SAY

Steve Wynn is likely to hit the jackpot with the upscale retail space at his new Wynn Las Vegas project, despite the many high-end competitors in the market, observers say.

“There is going to be an added level of competition, but at the end of the day, this project is just going to bring more high-end buyers to the city,” said Anthony Hama, an investment adviser at Sperry Van Ness. “Steve Wynn can’t fail.”

The roulette wheels started spinning April 28 at the $2.7 billion Wynn Las Vegas, the Strip’s first new casino resort in five years. The copper-colored, 49-level building, which includes 2,700 hotel rooms, also contains 75,000 square feet of retail, including a Ferrari and Maserati dealership. (The dealership says it got 10,000 visitors the first day and sold 21 of its expensive cars within two weeks.) High-roller favorites Christian Dior, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Louis Vuitton and Oscar de la Renta are also tenants.

The addition of such upscale retail makes Las Vegas even more of a destination for big spenders, says Hama. “You can compare it to the high-end hotel market,” he said. “Whenever a new luxury hotel opens, then it expands the overall market.”

Luxury retailers are eager to open stores in Las Vegas because it is a captive market, says Hama. “It’s a better place to open than a city like Los Angeles, because every single week you have thousands of people coming through, going to the casinos or to conventions,” he said. “Because of the self-contained nature of hotels like the Wynn resort, the visitors often shop where they are staying.”

Wynn is planning a second phase to the project that is slated to break ground this summer. Encore, a second tower, will contain 90,000 square feet of retail space. The plans also include 2,000 luxury suites, some convention and meeting areas, a spa-salon, some entertainment venues and, of course, more casino space. Encore is scheduled for completion by 2008 and projected to cost about $1.4 billion.

Even in a “cautious” economy, the resort’s retail component will find eager customers, says Faith Hope Consolo, chairwoman of the retail group at Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate. “This is a captive market of very high-end customers,” Consolo said. “The high-end of the retail market is doing extremely well.”

Consolo predicts that the development’s retail component will be popular with Asian tourists. “High-end luxury is extremely hot now with visitors from Asia,” she said. “The more expensive the better. They will like the fact that this retail space has no less-expensive stores, just the high-end ones.”

Consolo agrees with Hama that the Wynn resort retail component is unlikely to suffer from competition.

“It’s like retail in New York City,” Consolo said. “Just because there are a lot of high-end shops in SoHo and on Madison Avenue doesn’t mean there isn’t room for both. Different people shop in different places.”

— Sascha Brodsky