Dream Las Vegas, an integrated resort (IR) project headed by SoCal-based firms Contour and Shopoff Realty Investments, will host a groundbreaking event on Friday, July 8 at its construction site, which is located next to Harry Reid International Airport (HRIA).
Construction will cost approximately $550 million, and the venue is slated to open in late 2024. It will feature 531 rooms as well as dining options, convention space and a top-floor pool area.
Bill Smith, Shopoff’s senior vice president of design and construction, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the property will offer a more intimate, boutique-style ambiance than the other glitzy megaresorts on the Strip. Smith also said Dream will become the primary property for Dream Hotel Group of New York City, which already manages branded hotels in New York, Nashville and Miami.
The licensing process was very complicated for Dream, as its proximity to HRIA required additional planning and considerations. Multiple agencies, including the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), had to assess the proposed designs to investigate “safety and security concerns.”
The TSA was particularly concerned about the fact that the resort is located near a special part of HRIA that is used for “special operations and military aircraft packing,” which would increase the risk of harm from bad actors who were stationed at the IR, much like the gunman from the Route 91 Harvest festival tragedy in 2017 who killed 60 concertgoers from a window in Mandalay Bay.
Dream spokesman Tony Celeste from law firm Kaempfer Crowell said that the IR will feature anti-tampering sensors on all the windows to prevent such an event from happening again.
Celeste also told Clark County officials that a security checkpoint will screen all vehicles entering the property, and a 9-foot reinforced border wall will run the length of its border with the airport. The main hotel tower was also moved closer towards Las Vegas Boulevard.
Clark County officials originally approved the project last fall.
