Echelon Watch: No News Is News

 levans posted on Friday, 17th February 2012 - 1:42 pm

If the question wasnt asked then there probably wasnt an answer. Maybe they like having an empty lot filled with the skeleton of what could have been making that end of the Strip look like an abandoned auto plant.

 middleclassbuzz posted on Friday, 17th February 2012 - 4:10 pm

I'm pegging it as dead. But that lot has still got to be incredibly valuable. If I was calling the shots, I'd create a master plan for it and open little pieces that are able to stand on their own one at a time. In other words, I'd do what MGM should have done with City Center.

 stevecovington posted on Friday, 17th February 2012 - 6:11 pm

It is a shame. Looking at all the renderings and site plans, this was going to be amazing. The conservatory looked like it was going to trump a lot of Aria's public spaces (not those renderings posted on VT a while back with the rainbow looking digital walls everywhere). Couldn't they just scale back the project to just Echelon and a downsized mall, axing the 3 boutique hotels..? They could use the space south of the mall where the boutique hotels were to be and build a pool/day club to compete with EBC. Pipe dreams I guess.

 detroit1051 posted on Friday, 17th February 2012 - 6:43 pm

I'm sure someone will ask about Echelon during next Tuesday's conference call. I'm waiting for the answer. I don't think it's dead.

 bigdaddyj posted on Friday, 17th February 2012 - 10:05 pm

^If the conference call is next Tuesday, maybe it wasn't mentioned because they're planning on making a major announcement then?

 Drake posted on Saturday, 18th February 2012 - 2:56 am

They kinda screwed the pooch on that, didn't they?

I don't see it coming back in any shape or form. Las Vegas won't need any new room inventory for a long, long time. I'd bet that Boyd is more likely to peel away a strip property from MGM before building a new hotel at the Stardust site.

 nullzero00 posted on Saturday, 18th February 2012 - 5:13 am

i'd like to ask CEO Kevin Smith how Jason Mewes is doing.

 Dorian posted on Saturday, 18th February 2012 - 8:23 am

You know what would be great? A big brand new shiny sparkling "Stardust". Some hipster nostalgia and a modern take on what was. Recreate the sign and the colors etc.

 howardpark posted on Saturday, 18th February 2012 - 1:13 pm

Count me in for anything with the name "Stardust" -- echelon always sounded doomsdayish to me. I hope they just put something there in the short term, anything. Long run I'm sure it will be the next Mirage when they finally build it to its potential, like in 2030.

 levans posted on Sunday, 19th February 2012 - 1:05 am

Echelon always came off as some secret organization I would read about in a Robert Ludlum novel;Stardust version 2 would work for me.

 damania posted on Monday, 20th February 2012 - 9:57 pm

I don't understand why they can't just build a small casino without the tower right next to the strip sidewalk? It's easy money. They can then slowly expand to the back.

 MotelGeorge posted on Sunday, 26th February 2012 - 1:52 am

I would love for them to admit they were wrong to kill the Stardust and build another one retro style. We don't need another 4000 room hotel! Try to recapture the neon essence of the original Stardust with around 800 to 1000 rooms. I worked there in 1979 and it was a magical place. Give the locals and the middle-class tourists a new place that captures the original style and value of old Las Vegas!