Murren lauds “international destination”
Sarah Jessica Parker posing as shoe-store clerk, fitting her signature shoes on a parade of women who took them home in autographed boxes… Cellists, violinists and other musicians at strategic spots between packed tables and slot machines… A star-studded VIP cocktail party preceding a rush of thousands at 10:30 p.m. to see a remarkable new casino resort property.
All of these spectacles were subplots to the big spectacle that was last week’s grand opening of the MGM National Harbor resort, Maryland’s sixth casino. The $1.4 billion resort on the shores of the Potomac, widely expected to be the most successful casino in the state and one of the most successful gaming properties in the U.S., opened its doors Thursday night a half-hour early—opening had been slated for 11 p.m.—following a full day of ceremony, media tours and a gala pre-opening cocktail party staged for invited guests, government luminaries, celebrities and media.
Property officials decided to open the doors early because of the throngs of people who had been crowding the front door for hours. Officials reported that the property’s parking garages were filled to capacity by 11:15 p.m., and well into Friday morning, crowds remained waiting to enter, new customers being admitted only as others left.
What they found was perhaps the most spectacular resort ever built by MGM Resorts International or even its Mirage predecessor.
MGM National Harbor—built on a hilltop overlooking the mixed-used National Harbor development’s existing hotels, restaurants, Ferris wheel and other attractions—features a 125,000-square-foot casino floor with 3,300 slot machines and 124 table games, including high-roller areas, an Asian gaming pit, a large contingent of server-based slots and other special touches. But unlike most other Maryland properties, the casino is only the beginning.
The hotel features 308 rooms, including 74 well-appointed suites with a Chairman’s Suite measuring more than 3,000 square feet—featuring views of the nation’s capital across the river and the lush woodlands and riverscape of Old Town Alexandria and Prince George’s County.
The collection of dining options includes eateries by award-winning chefs like Marcus Sumuelsson and local favorites including Voltaggio Brothers Steak House—designed to reflect the Maryland brothers’ own house, with several rooms mirroring rooms in a home—FISH by José Andrés, featuring the best of Maryland blue crab and Rappahannock oysters; and the TAP sports bar, another spot for Maryland crab cakes and other local favorites, featuring more than 70 TV monitors for sports and a fire-pit-equipped outdoor dining deck overlooking the Potomac.
Special touches can be found throughout the property, such as a conservatory that comprises 15,000 square feet of flowers grown by local nonprofit Melwood, woven throughout the expansive lobbies and lower-level atrium leading to the dining and retail corridor dubbed the District. Fine art also is featured throughout the property, its Heritage Collection showcasing works by visionary local and international sculptors, photographers and mixed-media artists including Alice Aycock, Bob Dylan, Terry O’Neill, Margaret Boozer, Sam Gilliam and Ron Beverly, among others. Music icon Dylan’s Portal iron sculpture frames one of the entrances to the casino.
Other special features include a 27,000-square-foot spa and salon including 11 treatment rooms; separate men’s and women’s spas, steam rooms and saunas; a full-service salon; deluxe fitness center; barber shop; and retail space, all created by Daroff Design.
Nightlife includes a 3,000-seat theater; the Felt Bar & Lounge, created by boutique nightlife operator Clique Hospitality; and Blossom Cocktail Lounge, a 24-hour gaming lounge that pays homage to Washington, D.C.’s iconic cherry blossoms.
The retail offerings span 18,000 square feet, and include Parker’s first stand-alone boutique, SJP, showcasing her line of shoes and collection of little black dresses. Additional retailers include Las Vegas-born Stitched, local women’s boutique Ella Rue, designer sunglasses store Specs and renowned watch brand Rolex.
Parker was on hand at SJP all day, hosting the introduction of her store for media and VIPs prior to the evening opening of the property.
MGM Resorts International Chairman Jim Murren said at an hour-long press conference kicking off the day’s activities that he knew the operator needed to create much more than just a gaming property when he first looked at the site as state lawmakers were considering adding a Prince George’s County casino to the five authorized by the original gaming law.
“Here I was on the banks of the Potomac,” he recalled as he related his first glimpse at the site, shown to him by MGM Global Development VP Jacob Oberman, “looking down the waterway, across to Virginia, and to my right, I saw our nation’s capital, and the Washington Monument saying ‘hi’ to me.”
Murren said he dedicated the operator to honoring the value of the site by creating not just a casino, but an “international destination” that would also reflect the best of Prince George’s County and Maryland, the home state of his wife (he said he consulted her on assuring a Maryland touch to all the amenities).
“I came here to see whether we could convince the voters of Maryland we could do something different,” Murren said. “Not just to accept convenience gaming, which exists around the United States, but to help me build an international destination—something that you could be proud of, something that would drive business to the state, and something that would be uniquely its own in Maryland. Not something from Las Vegas or Macau or anywhere else, but uniquely Prince George’s County.
“We worked really hard with local businesses, we made a lot of promises which we have kept. We have helped small businesses become larger. We also promised the county that we would hire as many folks from Prince George’s County as we could, and there were 4,000 (employees) in this very room two days ago, and fully 2,000 of them live in Prince George’s County.”
Murren also heralded the property’s LEED Gold certification for green building practices, and the fact that the majority of the contractors on the property were minority-owned businesses.
The local MGM executives at the press event, including property President Lorenzo Creighton and GM Bill Boasberg, echoed Murren’s praise of the effort that resulted in the property becoming reality, beginning with a bitterly fought referendum campaign that ultimately ended in Maryland voters approving the sixth property in the 2012 general election, and a successful RFP against formidable competition.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, who took office in January 2015 (former Governor Martin O’Malley had laid the groundwork for the sixth casino), applauded the fact that the property created 6,000 construction jobs and 4,000 permanent jobs.
Hogan called the property “an exciting achievement for MGM, for Prince George’s County and for the state of Maryland,” and lauded the economic benefits for the state.
“The top priority of our administration has been economic development, focused on growing our economy and helping companies expand and create more jobs,” Hogan said. “We’ve been making great strides… One of the highlights of my job is seeing businesses grow and expand their footprints here in Maryland. But it’s particularly exciting to see a respected, world-renowned brand like MGM make such a significant investment in the future of Prince George’s County and the state of Maryland.”
Also chiming in with praise were Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, who was instrumental in the referendum campaign and was a cheerleader for the MGM project; and state Senate President Mike Miller, who championed the referendum measure.
Concerns over gridlock in the Washington-Baltimore area from a resort in one of the most heavily congested traffic areas of the country never materialized, at least on opening day. There was stop-and-go congestion approaching the resort, but in all, traffic flow was smooth, with a fleet of MGM spotters directing motorists in and out of the complex.
Initial reaction from Wall Street on the opening was positive. “We believe the opening of MGM National Harbor is supportive of our view that the company should generate more than adequate returns on investment,” wrote David Katz and Brian Davis of Telsey Advisory Group. “Our view is that the property’s development has been well executed, with appropriate amenity offerings and among the highest-quality gaming offerings in the region. As such, we are incrementally comfortable raising our estimates modestly, and believe the property could prove over the longer term to be among the highest earning properties on the East Coast.”
Christopher Jones of Buckingham Research Group wrote that with the opening, “MGM claimed its position as the dominant casino resort operator in the mid-Atlantic. The property is a testament to MGM’s development skills, as the iconic property exceeded our expectations in scope and style. While the most expensive regional gaming asset ever built in North America thus far, the combination of location and facilities should allow for the property to reach current consensus expectations of $180 million in EBITDA, fully ramped.”
