Wednesday, Feb. 21, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
A $1 billion hotel, casino, retail and entertainment complex will replace the defunct El Rancho on the Las Vegas Strip, the new owners announced today.
After a meeting of shareholders in Cherry Hill, N.J., this morning, Orion Casino Corp., a newly formed subsidiary of International Thoroughbred Breeders, finally released detailed plans for the 21-acre property.
ITB, a New Jersey company that owns and operates racetracks in Freehold and Cherry Hill, N.J., recently purchased the El Rancho property from Las Vegas Entertainment Network for $43.5 million.
Orion officials announced that the project, to be called Starship Orion, will cover 5.4 million square feet. They envision seven separately owned casinos, each about 30,000 square feet, to be blended with 300,000 square feet of retail space, 2,400 hotel rooms, an alien circus, a galactic theater and interactive simulators and motion-based theaters.
It is scheduled to open in April 1998. The El Rancho is located on the east side of Las Vegas Boulevard South, just south of the Wet 'n Wild water park.
Francis Murray, chairman and president of Orion, characterized the project as an "entertainment superstore."
"This project represents the first time that seven different gaming companies will be operating under the same roof, each with its own themed identity and management, yet joined together in a common venture, much like retailers in a shopping mall," Murray said.
Murray said Orion will own and operate one of the casinos. A major hotel operator and national property management firm is being sought to lease the retail portion of the project.
"One should probably look at it more like a major mall rather than a hotel-casino," said Jeff Lloyd, managing director of Sitrick and Co., ITB's public relations firm in Los Angeles.
In keeping with an outer space theme, ITB officials said Starship Orion will have a diameter of 750 feet -- too large to fit into the Rose Bowl -- and interior passageways will connect 1,000 first-class passenger cabins to a planetary sports book, lounges and restaurants.
The company also announced that former Chairman Robert Brennan, who had his gaming license in New Jersey revoked, had entered into an agreement with Cambridge Partners, a privately held investment partnership, to sell nearly 3 million shares of common stock. Last August, Brennan filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code. The transaction must be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
archive
