MGM Resorts International unveils details about the experience it is creating in Las Vegas surrounding the world-class 20,000-seat arena under development in partnership with renowned sports, entertainment, and facilities organization AEG. Plans include new Stripside experiences at New York-New York and Monte Carlo resorts and a public park leading to the new state-of-the-art arena. The company also announced details about the team who will bring this new experience to fruition.
For centuries, plazas, squares, and grand boulevards have served as important gathering places where people take in the sights, sounds, and flavors of great cities. Enlivening one of the city’s most exciting intersections, MGM Resorts will create an experience that encourages social interaction and one of Las Vegas’ best-known pastimes – people-watching.
Providing opportunities for visitors to enjoy Las Vegas outdoors, this vibrant plaza will connect New York-New York and Monte Carlo as well as the newly announced arena on land behind the resorts. Construction will begin on the outdoor experiences at New York-New York and Monte Carlo in the coming weeks, with anticipated completion in early 2014.
Jim Murren, chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International, says, “All great cities offer vibrant pedestrian experiences, and Las Vegas is certainly no exception, as The Strip is one of the world’s greatest boulevards. Our vision is to extend the excitement we traditionally create within our world-class resorts outside onto The Strip, and ultimately in an entertainment district leading to our new arena. To bring that vision to fruition, we have assembled a team recognized around the world for creating special venues and places.”
The front facades of New York-New York and Monte Carlo will be transformed into an outdoor plaza experience featuring a series of casual bars, eateries, and retail destinations. New York-New York will modify its skyline and Brooklyn Bridge to create a wonderful environment brought to life through a vibrant patio culture and retailers new to the market. Anchoring the new experience will be Hershey’s Chocolate World flagship store, a two-story interactive, experiential destination that celebrates the incredible array of Hershey's-branded products that inspire the "Hershey's Happiness" mantra. Additionally, the hotel’s Irish pub, Nine Fine Irishmen, will be enhanced, including an expansion of its high-energy patio culture both on the casino floor and the Brooklyn Bridge.
At Monte Carlo, the current formal European-style exterior features will be removed to make way for new partners, including Double Barrel, a casual roadhouse restaurant and bar concept by the leading hospitality experts at sbe; Sambalatte, the art of sipping found in the ultimate coffee experience, beloved by Las Vegas locals, and soon available to visitors; and 800 Degrees Neapolitan Pizzeria, serving build-your-own personal pizzas prepared to each guest’s liking and baked in around a minute in an 800-degree wood-burning oven, right before their eyes.
Between the two properties and leading back to the company’s new arena will be a park environment featuring dining pavilions and performance spaces complemented by areas for quiet relaxation. At the gateway to the park will be Shake Shack, a modern day “roadside” burger stand known for its all-natural burgers, flat-top dogs, frozen custard, beer, wine, and more by restaurateur Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group.
Additional partners and details surrounding both properties and the park will be announced in the coming months.
