Dozen Firms Up for Singapore Casinos
By Margo McCall -- Tradeshow Week, 5/16/2005
A dozen international hotel development companies have been invited to submit proposals to build Singapore's two planned casinos.
The city-state's request for concepts last December drew interest from 16 companies. Two were ruled out because they didn't comply with stated requirements, and two more said they wouldn't be submitting proposals.
Four U.S. casino companies are among the dozen invitees:
- Harrah's Entertainment, which operates 27 American casinos, is teaming up with Keppel Land.
- MGM Mirage, owner of 11 Las Vegas casinos including Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino with the near-million square foot Mandalay Bay Convention Center, is joining forces with CapitaLand.
- Wynn Resorts — which recently opened the upscale Wynn Las Vegas and is constructing a 16-acre casino resort set to open in the third quarter of 2006 in Macao, a special administrative region of China — is submitting a bid.
- Also going at it alone is Las Vegas Sands, owner of the million square foot Sands Expo & Convention Center and Venetian Hotel Resort Casino, which opened the Sands Macao casino in May 2004.
The other potential bidders in Singapore are Eighth Wonder Asia, Genting Intl., GuocoLand, Kerzner Intl., Publishing and Broadcasting, Melco Intl. Development, Peermont Global Sun Intl. and Tabcorp Holdings.
Most of the companies haven't revealed details of their plans. However, Las Vegas Sands' plans for its Garden City Resort will include "expansive corporate meeting and convention space," in addition to a Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, botanical gardens, theme rides, restaurants and shopping areas.
"We think the opportunity in Singapore is significant," William Weidner, Las Vegas Sands' COO and president, told analysts during the company's conference call.
In Macao, Las Vegas Sands is currently developing a Venetian casino resort that will include 111,484 square meters (1.2 million square feet) of exhibit space when it opens in late 2007.
Three convention centers now operate in Singapore. The largest is Singapore Expo, which features 60,000 sq. m. (645,835 sq. ft.) of exhibit space. Suntec Singapore Intl. Convention & Exhibition Center has 12,000 sq. m. (129,167 sq. ft.) of exhibit space and Singapore Indoor Stadium offers nearly 3,000 sq. m. (32,292 sq. ft.).
