LAS VEGAS -- A $1.5 billion touch of Venice on the site where the Rat Pack once played?
Gondolas bobbing in a 586,000-gallon lagoon in the middle of the Nevada desert?Life-size replicas of Italian icons on the Las Vegas Strip?
Welcome to Venice, Vegas style.
Two years after ground was broken, the new Venetian Resort hotel-casino is set to make its debut in late April, the latest player in this city's mega-resort mania.
It was at this site in another era that Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop cavorted at the legendary Sands Hotel as the Rat Pack. The Sands is gone now, dropped in a midnight implosion Nov. 26, 1996. In its place is a 3,036-room hotel with an elegance that raises the bar of opulence in this gambling and entertainment capital.
"We've tried to duplicate all the famous landmarks of Venice," says Venetian owner and chairman Sheldon Adelson during a recent tour, pointing to replicas of landmarks such as the Doge's Palace and the Rialto Bridge.
Noting the intricate detail in stately columns, Adelson says he's spent "tens of millions of dollars" in detailed work to set the Venetian apart from most resorts. The ornate statuary was shaped by 250 sculptors, designers and artists working in a plant Adelson established here.
"It had to be real," he says. "It had to be the right way, or it would not have been Venice."
Outside, a lagoon with working gondolas sweeps around replicas of the famous landmarks of Italy's most romantic city.
Entering the 35-story hotel there's a domed ceiling 65 feet high, 50 feet in diameter, featuring replicas of artwork found in Venice. A gallery 150 feet long, 40 feet high and 30 feet wide features more artwork amid giant columns of Italian marble.
A richly appointed casino features more murals and paintings.
"We want to pass along the luxury and the decadence of Venetian palaces," Adelson says. "What we have here is the romance of Venice with the luxury of Beverly Hills and the excitement of Las Vegas. You don't have that anywhere."
Luxury is the key. While some Las Vegas resorts are aiming at the family market, Venetian isn't one of them.
"This is not a family-oriented resort," Adelson says. "Our market is the affluent, high-end traveler. We're focusing on people who want the true resort experience. We're going after the top 5 percent of the market."
He plans to pursue the city's coveted high-rollers, "except for the whales, major players that play $100,000 per hand and up," Adelson says.
Why no whales?
"We're privately owned," Adelson says. "If I take a $25 million hit on a weekend, it comes out of Sheldon Adelson's pocket. I don't have a public company to tap."
Most major hotels in Las Vegas are owned by public companies, but not the Venetian. Adelson has put $320 million of his own money into the project so far and expects to have $500 million invested by the time a second tower is built by 2001.
Room rates will average $167 a night, with lows ranging from $109 to $119 off-peak and $239 to $289 on peak weekends.
The resort is also courting the business traveler, particularly conventioners.
Adelson became a billionaire through the convention and trade show business, selling his Comdex computer show a few years ago for some $850 million. Adelson, who owned the Sands, developed the world's largest private convention center adjacent to the hotel, and is now linking it to the Venetian. The complex will have 1.7 million square feet of meeting and convention space.
Adelson plans heavy convention bookings at the Venetian weekdays, shifting to the tourist market on weekends when occupancy at the city's major hotels runs near 100 percent.
Features in the new property should be a magnet for upscale travelers -- both business and pleasure.
The hotel houses 15 restaurants with famous culinary names such as Wolfgang Puck, Canaletto, Delmonico, Lutece and Postrio.
The famous Canyon Ranch Spa will operate a 65,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art spa, offering nearly 100 spa services. Guests can stay in the special Canyon Ranch wing, with private corridors and elevators leading directly to the spa.
The Grand Canal Shoppes will feature 78 retailers such as Mikimoto, Movado and Chopard in an elegant streetscape setting complete with canals and gondolas, built around a replica of Venice's St. Mark's Square.
The 3,036 rooms are suite-size, averaging 700 square feet, and include sunken living rooms, bathrooms finished in Italian marble, a fax machine and two 27-inch color televisions.
London-based Madame Tussaud is opening a 28,000-square-foot wax museum, with features including Las Vegas icons such as The Rat Pack. The $16 million project will include 100 wax portraits.
A 1,450-seat theater, The Club at The Venetian, will feature name entertainment when it opens later in the summer.
Also this summer, the company plans to begin construction on a second 3,036-room tower, The Lido, which will include another 750,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space. Opening is planned for the summer of 2001, Adelson said.
Adelson admits it was tough to demolish the Sands, a Strip icon.
"But there's a time to live in the past, to look at the past, and a time to look at the future and move on," Adelson says. "The 700-room Sands couldn't compete with the 3,000-room mega-resorts."
The Venetian joins a growing number of themed resorts springing up here. The new Mandalay Bay opened March 2 and the Italian-themed Bellagio in October. Coming attractions include Paris-Las Vegas, set to open in September, and the new Aladdin, in the spring of 2000.