New Las Vegas Strip resort ‘a dream come true’ for veteran exec
Mark Tricano has been in the casino culture his entire adult live. But he grinned like a kid who’d just visited Santa on Wednesday morning at the ribbon-cutting for Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
“For someone like myself, an opportunity to open up and run a property on the Las Vegas Strip — this is a dream come true,” Tricano, the hotel’s president, said just after the ceremony, at the Urs Fischer Gallery.
From Jeffrey Soffer, accepting the Key to the #LasVegas Strip from key-bearing @ClarkCountyNV commish @tsegerblom @fblasvegas ribbon-cutting event … pic.twitter.com/pDLQytHlzk
— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) December 13, 2023
The resort’s hype is as grandiose as Fischer’s 46-foot, stainless-steel, gold-leaf Lovers #3 sculpture looming over the scene.
Tricano is among the scores of Vegas tourism and hospitality officials — not to mention Vegas residents — who found the event surreal. The property broke ground in 2007. Jeffrey Soffer has owned the property twice, at its inception and again today.
From Jeffrey Soffer, accepting the Key to the #LasVegas Strip from key-bearing @ClarkCountyNV commish @tsegerblom @fblasvegas ribbon-cutting event … pic.twitter.com/pDLQytHlzk
— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) December 13, 2023
“This story is amazing,” Tricano said. “You could write a book about it.”
Tricano oversees a hotel that will instill universal, international appeal. But he also has a sense of the Las Vegas market, from his days in Station Casinos as GM of Red Rock Resort from 2012-2015.
At Fontainebleau, Tricano is piloting a resort that is the anchor of long-anticipated development on the north end of the Strip. Resorts World. Wynn/Encore and Sahara are all neighboring properties. Tricano was asked what would set Fontainebleau apart from that cluster of resorts.
“The architecture, the design, the curation of the space, the way that it’s fully integrated between all the elements,” Tricano said. “How those spaces are programmed, the elements of our food and beverage, nightlife, convention space, theater. They integrate so well, and the way they are presented to the market is differentiating.”
From this perch, LIV Nightclub (developed by nightlife icon David Grutman’s Groot Hospitality) and BleuLive Theater (with Live Nation booking the shows) are of the highest standard on the Strip. Any sense and sensibility can be satisfied with the hotel’s 36 bars and restaurants. The convention space — where the bureau is at this moment — covers 550,000 square feet.
From Jeffrey Soffer, accepting the Key to the #LasVegas Strip from key-bearing @ClarkCountyNV commish @tsegerblom @fblasvegas ribbon-cutting event … pic.twitter.com/pDLQytHlzk
— John Katsilometes (@johnnykats) December 13, 2023
At its launch, Fontainebleau seems fully capable of high-level hospitality on all platforms.
Employing friendly, hard-working people is important, too.
“Our approach toward hiring and recruiting people has been based upon developing culture and an attitude,” Tricano said. “It wasn’t about just being the new thing on the Strip. It was really about our values, and when their values were aligned with ours, we know that we have the right talent to deliver an exceptional experience.” Its 20-year construction odyssey complete, Fontainebleau opens as a five-start resort. Now it’s time to get to work.
For a song
Several attendees at the event broke into “Happy Birthday to You” for Soffer, his 55th.
J.T.’s crew
The production setup for Justin Timberlake’s performance at BleauLive reportedly weighs 15 tons. As one qualified observer noted, “He is bringing an arena show into that theater.”
Theatrical concepts
BleauLive Theater opens to the public with Post Malone’s two shows over New Year’s Eve. But former Cosmopolitan exec Fedor Banuchi, senior vice president of entertainment, special events and sponsorship, says the venue is going with headliners and tour stops over residency performers. With a listed capacity of 3,800, the theater is flexible enough to handle Timberlake’s massive production, or a stand-up comedian, convention event or combat sport. Beautiful place.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.