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Columns for the SkyVue observation wheel, under construction near the Mandalay Bay, are shown Monday, May 21, 2012. The top of the 500-foot tall ride will be higher than the Mandalay Bay, said SkyVue developer Howard Bulloch.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Howard Bulloch can peer over the top of Mandalay Bay from 500 feet above the Strip.
"When you think of the Strip, that's the view people want to see," he said. "That's the attraction Las Vegas has for the rest of the world."
Bulloch was looking out of a helicopter hovering above the southern Strip at dusk Monday evening, across from a parcel of land that he has owned with partner David Gaffin for more than 12 years. Little more than a year ago, Bulloch and Gaffin announced plans for SkyVue, an observation wheel on the scale of the Singapore Flyer, or the Star of Nanchang in China or the London Eye.
"People had been talking about putting an observation wheel in Vegas for years, and we just decided we were going to do it," Bulloch said
Down on the ground, two pillars now 60 feet tall point skyward, showing SkyVue is more than just so much talk. Today, the project begins the second phase of a $200 million construction that Bulloch promises will have a wheel towering over the Strip by the end of the year.
A dozen semi trucks are set to roll into the construction site this morning, bringing enough steel cable to stretch from the Strip to the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco to serve as supports for the massive wheel.
Plans are to have the hub and spindle for the wheel in place by the end of summer. By fall, constructions workers will begin forging large pie-shaped steel supports around the hub for a wheel expected to carry passengers late next year.
"The engineering behind it is like a big Erector set," Bulloch said.
The wheel is going over a base of concrete submerged some 14 feet into the desert floor, where cheap hotels once stood on land Bulloch and Gaffin have owned since Mandalay Bay was under construction. The wheel will be flanked on each side by huge LED screens the size of football fields, advertising restaurants and retail shops that are part of the development.
It's no coincidence that cable trucks are making deliveries just as the International Council of Shopping Centers is holding its convention in Las Vegas. Bulloch spent the day visiting booths at the ICSC, pitching his 140,000-square-feet of retail, dining and entertainment space.
The competition has been a little more noisy about its plans. Caesars Entertainment has been busy tearing up the center of the Strip and imploding a parking garage to make room for the Linq, which will have an observation wheel that overlooks the Flamingo and the Imperial Palace.
Linq is supposed to be taller by 50 feet.
In a town where developers try to outdo the other, Bulloch said that, 500 feet in the air, most people won't really notice 50 feet. He also said he thinks his wheel will not only have the best view, but be seen the most.
"Every airplane that flies in and out of Vegas will fly past that wheel," Bulloch said. "And everyone who takes their picture in front of the Las Vegas sign will have our wheel in the background."
American engineers and construction workers at their best!
Two Wheels - Two Water Parks, let's hope they build something bigger and better than what can be found in other Cities, otherwise there will be no reason for tourists to stick around a litte bit longer.
Even Locals still have to drive to California to experience Major Theme Parks, it seems like with the Local Population and the nubers of tourists we could entice enough people to support such a park in Las Vegas.
How about a retractable roof Water Park right next to Circus-Circus. Right now it looks like all the Casinos are chasing Electronica, until they discover there are too many and spend millions again to change it. Look at it the same as The Family Fad. There is room in the Las Vegas market for a Couple of these Family properties - but that's it.
Glad to see more things going for both tourists and locals.
Really does not matter what is in other states. We have over 2 Million locals looking for something to do and it is just an added bonus for tourists to check it out.
I wish them well and hope they are a huge success. More jobs and money flowing into our town.
Low-hanging fruit Journalism. What will the Sun be reporting on Wednesday? a bus stop bench was repainted?
Here's a topic worth investigating...why is it the State of Nevada is not working 24/7 to improve gaming? Where is the innovation? the betting exchanges? interstate horserace wagering? Lotteries? Internet Poker and other games? Instead we get story after story about how they are hurting for revenue? gee wonder why that is???
americans are good but the chinese are master builders.
chinese build the tallest buildings in the world using bamboo scaffolding.
far out, i cant wait to take my lovely wife of 20yrs. to see the new Vegas.... i was there in 1989 -90 and am ready to rock that town again... the sky wheel is my ticket to MORE exxxtacy with my BEAUTI-FULL wife.. cant wait to get there, mabey even before the wheel is done so i can wait till it is done!!!!
I'm wondering how they can build this monstrosity so close to the airport and the E-W runway.
Yet another comment worrying about the height of the project.
Well, Duhhhh, Mandalay, basically the same height is just across the street.
The wheel site is actually nearly a mile north of the runway, plus noise abatement procedures for RY's 25R and 25L departures are as follows:
Turbojets departing Runways 25R and 25L should maintain runway heading until 3 DME before executing a left turn, and 4 DME before executing a right turn.
It won't be as close as one might imagine.
Pretty cool
30 minutes to go around. That would be cool to book an entire pod for dinner and watch airplanes. That's gonna be cool.
I actually thought this thing wouldn't work financially. But I just crunched some numbers.
36 pods at about 25 people each revolution at 1/2 hour is 48. At 20 buck that's almost a million a day for rides and at least that much more for the advertising income. That's 700 mil a year. NOT counting the retail.
Kinda makes the 200 mil cost look like chump change!
Good luck to you Mr Bulloch. . Vegas needs all the help it can get and I sure hope this project rewards the people trying to push against the grain in this horrible economy.