Las Vegas Poised for Another Hotel-Casino

Las Vegas, the city with the largest amount of hotel rooms in the country, is poised to add another hotel-casino to its roster.

The Clark County (Nev.) Commission voted 6-1 this week to approve plans for Dream Las Vegas, a 20-story hotel-casino that would be built at the southern edge of the Las Vegas Strip.

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It would become the hotel physically closest to McCarran International Airport, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Only Commissioner Ross Miller among the seven-member committee voted no, citing that very proximity to McCarran and saying whether Las Vegas should “allow for casino-hotels directly on top of our airport.”

The 527-room, $500 million project is looking to break ground midway through next year with a completion date in 2024.

Developers David Daneshforooz, chief executive of the real estate firm Contour, and Bill Shopoff, founder of Shopoff Realty Investments, say they believe in the smaller concept in contrast to the 2,000- and 3,000-room behemoths further up the Strip.

The project still faces hurdles, however. Since it is so close to the airport, plans for the hotel had to be sent to the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Secret Service.

According to the Review-Journal, the Transportation Security Administration issued an assessment stating the project is near an area of the airport “used for high-level individuals, special operations and military aircraft parking,” and the resort “would increase risk to both the aircraft and the passengers due to active shooters and the ability to throw things over the fence intended to cause harm” to people and planes, county documents show.

In addition, airlines such as Southwest, Delta, American, and United all raised concerns about the project, citing such issues as illegal drone activity, lasers, and lighting and billboards that “could potentially be a source of flash blindness.”

Designers of the Dream Hotel did introduce a series of dramatic changes from the original proposal at the County Commission meeting to address concerns.