The Venetian & Pallazzo
The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino is a luxury hotel and casino resort located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, NV, United States, on the site of the old Sands Hotel. The Venetian is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation.
The Venetian has 4,049 suites and a 120,000 sq ft casino. It is located on the east side of the Strip, between Harrah's and the The Palazzo.
Combined with the adjacent Sands Expo Convention Center and The Palazzo Hotel and Casino Resort, The Venetian is a part of the largest five-star hotel and resort complex in the world --- featuring 8,108 hotel rooms and suites.
On November 26, 1996, eight years after it was bought by Sheldon Adelson, the Sands Hotel was imploded to make way for The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. Ground was broken April 14, 1997.
The resort opened on May 3, 1999 with flutter of white doves, sounding trumpets and singing gondoliers, with actress Sophia Loren joining The Venetian Chairman and Owner, Sheldon G. Adelson, in christening the first motorized gondola. Built at a cost of $1.5 billion, it was one of the most expensive resorts of its kind when it opened. A brief time line of the hotel's history:
- September 24, 1997 — Announcement that the Venetian's Grand Canal Shoppes will be managed by Forest City Commercial Management.
- November 14, 1997 — $1,000,000,000 financial package secured.
- August 18, 1998 — Venetian Resort tops out.
- August 24, 1998 — Venetian begins accepting room reservations, by phone and on-line.
- May 3, 1999 — Grand opening of first phase of complex.
- October 7 2001 — The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum opened within the resort, featuring its first collection: Masterpieces and Master Collectors: Impressionist and Early Modern Paintings.
- August 30, 2002 — The museum opened its second collection: Art Through the Ages: Masterpieces of Painting from Titian to Picasso.
- May 15, 2003 — Museum opens third exhibit: American Pop Icons.
- June 27, 2003 — The Venezia at the Venetian opened as an additional tower, adding 1,013 suites and a new wedding chapel.
- November 7, 2003 — Museum opens exhibit: A Century of Painting: From Renoir to Rothko, featuring paintings by Gauguin, Matisse, Picasso, van Gogh, Renoir, and others.
- March 19, 2004 — "The Nevada Gaming Commission Thursday imposed an agreed-upon $1 million fine on The Venetian for rigging contests and violating state gaming regulations but only after chastising other state agencies for not pursuing the case more vigorously. Chairman Peter Bernhard and Commissioner Art Marshall, who called the violations the "most serious" they have dealt with during their tenures on the commission, criticized the state attorney general's office and the Gaming Control Board for taking a year to bring the eight-count complaint before the commission. ... "This is the most serious complaint I've seen since I've been on the commission. The issues go to the heart of the integrity of the industry," Bernhard said. ... The Asian high roller at the center of the case, was preselected to win a Mercedes-Benz. The complaint said a Venetian executive who rigged the drawing with a cohort hid the winning ticket in his shirtsleeve and pretended to draw it randomly from a batch of entries before announcing the "winning" ticket."
- October 10, 2005 — Blue Man Group officially opens at the Blue Man Theatre.
- June 24, 2006 — ‘Phantom - The Las Vegas Spectacular’ opened at a new theatre at the Venetian.
The Palazzo is a luxury hotel and casino resort located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, a suburb of Las Vegas. The Palazzo is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation. The property's design is marketed as being reflective of a modern European ambiance and luxury living. In its first year of eligibility, The Palazzo was awarded the AAA Five Diamond Award for 2010.
As of February 27, 2006, the project had been under construction for over a year. Most of that time was spent digging the 4-story-deep hole to put in the underground parking structure. Then the building itself began gradually rising upwards. The steel fabrication and erection was supplied by Schuff Steel Company. By November 2006, the hotel tower had reached the 35th floor. Construction of the ground floors, including the parking garage and shopping center, were well under way.
As of March 2007, the hotel tower's elevator core was complete, and the rooms area was rising to the top. The facade and windows were being installed on the lower floors. As of August 2007, the lettering on the side of the tower was finished and is topped out.
As of December 20, 2007 the Palazzo was scheduled to open at least 1,000 rooms by December 28 in preparation for the Las Vegas New Years celebration, America's Party. The casino and other areas of the Palazzo opened at 7pm on Sunday, December 30, after a delay of several days due to the Clark County permitting process.
Upon its completion, The Palazzo (its total floor area covering 6,948,980 square feet (645,581 m2) displaced the Pentagon as the largest building in the United States in terms of floor space, by a margin of about 383,000 square feet.
The structural engineering was done by Walter P Moore Engineers and Consultants. Parts of the resort were opened to the general public on December 30, 2007. The official grand opening took place on January 17, 2008.
Currently under construction, the 270-unit condominium tower addition The St. Regis Residences at The Palazzo will be the first residential offerings at The Venetian complex. The high-rise tower is being built on top of the 90,000-square-foot (8,400 m2) building that houses the Barneys New York apparel store. On September 4, 2008, Las Vegas Sands announced that it had come to an agreement with Starwood Hotels & Resorts to operate the condo tower as a signature branch of The St. Regis Residences with all hallmarks of the St. Regis brand offered to residents.
The $1.8 billion resort features a Lobby where guests from the street arrive beneath a 60-foot (18 m) glass dome with a two-story fountain. Those approaching from The Venetian make the transition through a towering octagonal structure and garden, itself topped by a glass-and-iron dome. Visitors to The Palazzo using the underground parking structure can take elevators or escalators from the underground garage and arrive in the center of the property's casino.
The Palazzo Casino, like some other casinos on the strip, operates under the license of a related casino—in this case The Venetian's license. The resort's 642-foot (196 m) high hotel tower features 3,068 all-suite rooms and 375 concierge-level suites.
The Palazzo is reported to be the sixth largest building in the world in terms of available floor space and is also currently the largest building in the Western Hemisphere.
Lamborghini Las Vegas is the second authorized dealer in the Las Vegas area, featuring displays of exotic automobiles from automakers including Lamborghini, Bugatti, Spyker, Saleen, and Koenigsegg. The 20,000-square-foot showroom was decorated with Italian-imported marble and tile flooring, rich leather wall coverings, and vibrant artwork.
Non-buying guests of the resort are granted admission to the showroom for $10, while children ages five and under receive free admission when accompanied by a paying adult. Admission to the showroom includes a Lamborghini Las Vegas lanyard, souvenir access pass, and a discount at the world's first complete Lamborghini accessories boutique on purchases over $100.
Features upscale boutique stores from the likes of Van Cleef & Arpels, Jimmy Choo, Fendi, Piaget, Diane von Furstenberg, Chloè, Bvlgari, Michael Kors, Burberry, Christian Louboutin, Catherine Malandrino, Anya Hindmarch, Charriol, and others. It also features an 85,000 square foot Barneys New York.
Owned and managed by Jason Strauss & Noah Tepperberg, and overlooking the Las Vegas Strip, Lavo is a new hot spot frequented by celebrities. Lavo's menu features contemporary Italian dishes with American flare. Lavo contains over 20,000 square feet of space and turns into a lounge at night.
An under construction Palazzo was the setting for an early scene of Ocean's Thirteen.
