Las Vegas (Nevada) - Las Vegas Tower - 575m

LAS VEGAS TOWER - 575m



Business Press 04-12-2006

New Strip development is really going vertical
BY ARNOLD M. KNIGHTLY

The new owner of the dormant Wet 'n Wild land has a tall order in mind for the Strip property -- a 1,888-foot-tall hotel tower.

Texas-based developer Christopher Milam wants to build a 142-story obelisk as the centerpiece of a hotel-resort-casino project, according to plans presented to the Clark County Planning Commission late last month. "It makes sense in Las Vegas," Milam explained. "A 4,000-room hotel on the Las Vegas Strip is just fine whereas, in most non-gaming markets, a 400-room hotel would be plenty large."

The structure would be the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the tallest hotel tower in the world. The 1,149-foot-high Stratosphere Casino Hotel & Tower, less than a mile north on Las Vegas Boulevard, is currently the tallest building west of the Mississippi River.

[...]

"The big problem with the proposed 1,888-foot tower is that it would punch into the airspace that airplanes use while performing instrument arrivals and departures into and out of McCarran," said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor, adding that any height exceeding 708 feet would have an adverse effect on air traffic.

Maureen Adamo | Business Press

http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles … 011032.txt


Business Press 05-12-2006

The sky is no limit to Milam
Air Force, FAA objections won't fell tower project, developer says
BY DAVID MCKEE

Austin-based developer Christopher Milam is thinking big. Texas-sized big, as in erecting the tallest building in the U.S. on the former site of the Wet 'n Wild aquatic park. Virtually the entire 27-acre parcel would be consumed by the casino "podium," as envisioned by Steelman Design Group, from which will arise a 142-story spire. Modeled on Skidmore Owings & Merrill's Burj Dubai skyscraper, this obelisk will top out at 1,888 feet ... a height that is presently sticking in the craws of Nellis Air Force Base and the Federal Aviation Administration.

[...]

So is the 1,888-foot height non-negotiable?

We think that will ultimately be found to not be a hazard and that's where we wanted to be. The reason is that makes it the tallest building in the U.S. The next-tallest building is the Freedom Tower in New York, which was World Trade (Center), which is 1,776 (feet). They're locked into that number for obvious reasons. You don't build a building this tall and make it a little shorter than the one they just built. That's not a good approach to marketing, if you will.

http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles … 096974.txt