hospitalitystyle.com

(April 2010) posted on Wed Apr 28, 2010 EDT

Company also restarting work on hotel at casino/resort in Pa.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. has opened the first phase of its Marina Bay Sands casino in Singapore, and is also moving ahead with plans for a luxury hotel at its Sands Casino Resort in Bethlehem, Pa.

Now open at the Marina Bay Sands complex are 963 hotel rooms, the casino, parts of its shopping mall and convention center, several restaurants and bars, and an event plaza along Marina Bay. On June 23, the remainder of the property's 2,560 guest rooms will open, as will more shops, restaurants and bars. The Sands SkyPark, which sits 60 stories off the ground and is perched atop the property's three hotel towers, will also debut on June 23.

Meantime, Sands has also decided to start working again next month on the hotel planned for its year-old casino resort in eastern Pennsylvania. That move, according to The Morning Call newspaper in Allentown, Pa., stems from two factors: the global financial crisis, which has caused construction costs to plummet; and Sands' decision to strip some extravagant, Las Vegas-style luxury from the hotel.

As a result, a hotel that was expected to cost $60 million to complete can now be finished for as little as $30 million, the newspaper reported. “They've told us that it's no longer planned to be a mini-version of their Palazzo [in Las Vegas], but that was probably too much for this market anyway,” Tony Hanna, Bethlehem's director of economic and community development, told The Morning Call. “We're very happy it's getting finished, and it's going to be nice. Very nice. I'm absolutely certain of that.”