Echelon (originally Echelon Place) was a proposed $4.8 billion mixed-use project that was to be built on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. Boyd Gaming announced the project in January 2006, as a replacement for its Stardust Resort and Casino. Echelon Place, to be built on , was to include a casino, 4 hotels providing 5,300 rooms, 25 restaurants and bars, and the Las Vegas ExpoCenter. Echelon Place was also to include the $2.9 billion Echelon Resort, with 3,300 hotel rooms. Other hotels were also to include a Shangri-La Hotel and two hotels by Morgans Hotel Group: a Delano Hotel and a Mondrian Hotel. The project was also to include a $500 million shopping promenade, to be co-developed and managed by General Growth Properties.
The Stardust was closed in November 2006, and subsequently demolished. Groundbreaking for the Echelon project occurred on June 19, 2007, with an opening scheduled for the third quarter of 2010. However, construction was suspended on August 1, 2008, as Morgans Hotel Group and General Growth Properties could not obtain financing for their portions of the project, due to the effects of the Great Recession. As of 2012, Boyd Gaming still intended to finish construction of the project, and received a six-year extension from the county. However, in March 2013, Boyd Gaming sold the site to the Genting Group, which began developing it as a 3,500-room hotel and casino named Resorts World Las Vegas. Some of the unfinished Echelon buildings were incorporated into the Resorts World project, which opened on June 24, 2021.
History
In the late 1990s, Boyd Gaming postponed plans to redevelop the site of its Stardust Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, to instead proceed with its Borgata hotel-casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. After the Borgata opened in 2003, Boyd Gaming stated that it would wait until the 2005 opening of nearby competitor Wynn Las Vegas before starting a redevelopment plan for the Stardust site. While no specific plans had been considered for the site up to that time, future redevelopment possibilities would include demolishing the Stardust or building an adjacent resort on property located behind the Stardust. In November 2004, Boyd Gaming purchased a 13-acre parcel of land for $43 million, as part of its eventual redevelopment plans for the Stardust site. The 13-acre property was occupied by a 639-room Budget Suites hotel, and was contiguous to the Stardust. The sale gave Boyd Gaming a total of , and the company was in the early stages of a master plan for the site. Boyd Gaming used the Borgata as an example of how to redevelop the Stardust site.
Boyd Gaming announced the $4 billion Echelon Place project on January 3, 2006, to replace the Stardust. It would be a mixed-use project similar to Project CityCenter, also on the Las Vegas Strip. Echelon Place would include a casino, a shopping promenade, and several hotels with a total of 5,300 rooms. Two of the hotels, the Delano and the Mondrian, would be developed by Morgans Hotel Group at a total cost of $700 million, while Boyd Gaming would own the $2.9 billion, 3,300-room Echelon Resort.
It was also announced that Boyd Gaming executive Bob Boughner would leave his position at the Borgata to lead development of Echelon Place, under the position of president and chief executive officer of Echelon Resorts. Boughner had previously overseen construction and development of the Borgata, and had also overseen construction of the Stardust's 32-story tower, which was opened in 1991. Boughner and his executives spent much of 2005 developing a list of prospective partners for the project.
Project planners stated that the 63-acre site was large enough to contain construction without affecting nearby businesses and tourists, and also said that because of the site's easy access and proximity to Industrial Road and Interstate 15, the resort would not cause traffic delays after opening. However, it was later estimated that the project, upon completion, would bring an additional 12,190 vehicles to the busy Las Vegas Strip area. Construction was initially scheduled to begin in early 2007, following the demolition of the Stardust, with an opening scheduled for early 2010. Boyd Gaming's stock dropped eight percent in the days following Echelon Place's announcement, due to skepticism about the project.