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Fate of giant Las Vegas Ferris wheel still up in the air
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Jessica Ebelhar/Las Vegas Review-Journal
Bethany Bulloch, left, 13, and Sarah Gaffin, 15, stand inside a bearing for the proposed Skyvue development. The girls are the daughters of Skyvue developers Howard Bulloch and David Gaffin. » Buy this photo
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Skyvue, proposed to be built across from Mandalay Bay, would have a 500-foot London Eye-style wheel and 200,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space at its base. Courtesy Illustration
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: May 24, 2011 | 10:29 a.m.
The game of chicken to build a giant Ferris wheel on the Strip drew a little tighter Monday with a public sales pitch by the developer of one project.
While not breaking ground or even clearing a defunct 1950s' motel from his site, Skyvue developer Howard Bulloch unveiled a 23,000-pound bearing needed to make his big wheel go 'round. He timed the ceremony to coincide with the annual REcon convention staged by the International Council of Shopping Centers, hoping to create a sense of momentum that might persuade potential tenants at the show to sign leases.
Skyvue, across the Strip from Mandalay Bay, would have a 500-foot London Eye-style wheel as its centerpiece, with 200,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space at its base and 107,000 square feet of light-emitting diode signs in the middle of the wheel or along the building's side. Bulloch said he has yet to line up financing for the project, which he said would cost $175 million, but vowed to open by the end of 2012.
Skyvue would cover about 11 acres of a 38.7-acre parcel Bulloch and his partners purchased a decade ago.
Quick money for construction could be critical because Caesars Entertainment Corp. has mapped out a similar development, Project Linq, adjacent to the Flamingo and the Imperial Palace. Caesars says it has inked $450 million in loans for its wheel and to finish the Octavius Tower at Caesars Palace.
The company has not published many final details about Project Linq, beyond covering about 500,000 square feet with a wheel about 500 feet tall.
Dennis Speigel, president of the consulting firm International Theme Park Services, has said he doubts the Strip could support two giant wheels.
"The first one out will be the last one in," Speigel said.
Big wheel projects have been floated for Las Vegas in the past but none materialized. Now, Bulloch has various government approvals, but not the money, while Caesars has money without final approval from the county.
The popularity of the 443-foot tall London Eye, which has attracted more than 3 million riders a year since 2000, has attracted a slew of imitators from Singapore to New Jersey to Myrtle Beach, S.C. The latest generation of Ferris wheels come with enclosed gondolas -- 22 passengers each for Skyvue -- instead of open-air baskets.
"A giant wheel has become the icon du jour," Speigel said.
"The London Eye has been a tremendous success," said Bulloch, who will model ticket prices on London's. The basic ride would cost $20 to $25.
The Monday ceremony also highlighted that big wheels are not financially foolproof.
The bearing Bulloch displayed is a leftover from a Beijing wheel that was never built. According to a spokesman, Bulloch paid about $840,000 for the unused, secondhand bearing.
Bulloch said he has received letters of intent from potential tenants for 15 percent of the retail space. A letter of intent indicates a formal interest, but not a rental contract.
At least some of the early skirmishing between Skyvue and Caesars has revolved around location. By placing his wheel right on the Strip, at a slight angle to the street, riders will get a better view, Bulloch said.
"That is the real appeal, not being off the Strip," Bulloch said.
But Caesars senior vice president Jan Jones depicted Skyvue as relatively isolated.
"If I was going to argue location, I would rather have the center of the Strip than being on the end of the south end," she said.
Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.
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Alvinjh: what an A-h.
Max. Breathe. It's not your money.
This thing will be a giant white elephant in less than 5 years. Anyone remember the Sky Screamer at the MGM Grand back in the 90's? That giant sling-shot ride? It was the greatest thing going for about 4-5 years. Then suddenly everyone stopped going. MGM ended up tearing it down. Fortunately there wasn't a huge amount of overhead involved so tearing down something like that was easy. This giant Ferris Wheel thing will end up sitting there idle for 3 or 4 years after everyone gets tired of it because there won't be enough money to take the darn thing down. Maybe one of our big wind storms will blow it down like the Hilton Sign a few years back. The attention span of the general public won't support anything like this for more than a few years. It's doomed to fail.
I would rather have Ferris Bueller World.
Just checked the 'interactive map' of the Monorail.
Wow!!! It looks as if the wheel would be squishing the Monorail cars - not a bad idea.
Lots of talk for a one eyed fat man..so to speak..and the days of hyping big extravagant projects to lure sloppy investors to part with money are over (hello Fontainbleau! hello monorail! Echelon etc etc)
Las Vegas is teetering because of high gas prices and a very weak economy...
That means planes and cars filled with eager customers flush with cash to spend, are having trouble getting here at all..just because you build it (whether its a sports complex or a ferry wheel), doesn't mean you attract an audience with money to spend.
But give the guy credit. He got on the news with an artists rendition of what could be.. and that is what entrepreneurs do. Dream big.
Las Vegas is not China. We are not ascending.. we peaked.
One of the reasons the London Eye ferris wheel has been a success is because it towers over everything else in the entire city. Did you ever see a picture of how tall it is compared to the overall surroundings?
That would not be the case here. In Las Vegas, there are 17 structures (most of them complete) that are taller than the proposed 500-foot ferris wheel. (Stratosphere, Palazzo, Encore, Wynn, Trump, Vdara, Eiffel Tower, and Palms, just to name a few.) The "impact" of a big ferris wheel would be lost in this sea of huge buildings. In fact, placement of a giant ferris wheel would be critical so that its view isn't blocked by one of these taller buildings.
Works in London. Maybe it'll work in flat Myrtle Beach. Won't work here.
Hmmmm.....Channel 8 practically wet their pants about this on their website yesterday: "It's groundbreaking day for the latest attraction on the Las Vegas Strip". "Groundbreaking day" to me means you're actually starting the work, not just showing off a giant bearing while waiting for financing. It's a dumb idea anyway.
"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" - George Santayana, 1863 - 1952.
Why is it that some people just don't understand one simple fact: The Las Vegas Strip is for adults, NOT children! Does ANYONE in this town remember when Las Vegas made an attempt in the mid-1990s to market itself as a family-friendly destination, where parents and children could all have a great time? It was a load of baloney, everyone knew it and the poorly conceived campaign died a quick death. FACT: The Las Vegas Strip simply is not "child friendly" at all; it never was and it never will be. The various visitors bureaus do not even try to present it as such; just the opposite in fact. Las Vegas is an adult Disneyland, pure and simple. The common sights on the Strip move to R-rated pretty quickly, and most other visitors would prefer not to have people bring their children. Kids can go just about anywhere nowadays, and the last thing adults want to do while having a good time on the Strip is get bombarded by strollers being pushed by clueless soccer moms or have little kids running around. Not only will this gaudy bauble (with 50,000 square feet of LED lights for advertising in the middle of the wheel) cause increased traffic congestion on the Strip, it will effectively change the fabulous Mandalay Bay complex into a kid filled disaster. This ugly monstrosity will end up like other defunct monuments to stupidity that grace the north end of the Strip, the still barely operating ones like Circus-Circus and defunct ones like the Fontainebleau and Echelon projects; it will likely be closed within three years of its opening - here's hoping.
Gary & Janet your books show a loss , why would you want to buy a ferris wheel, Are you in the gaming business ?