Licensing approved for new $1.5 billion Las Vegas resort

The licensing of various top officers includes Adelson as chairman of the board and William Weidner as president. Bradley Stone is executive vice-president, Robert Goldstein is senior vice president and David Friedman is secretary.

Commission members were told about 3,500 construction workers are rushing to finish the huge resort, located on a sprawling patch of real estate where the legendary Sands Hotel once stood.

Some 113,000 people inquired about jobs at the 3,036-suite hotel-casino, and management will soon finish about 30,000 interviews.

The resort is already in a dispute with former Sands workers hoping to get preference as hiring of 4,000 Venetian employees is completed. But that's not an issue for the Gaming Commission, Chairman Bill Curran said.

The club will have 2,500 slot machines, 115 table games, 15 restaurants, a 1,450-seat theater and a mall with nearly 80 upscale shops.

The stores are paying $300 million for their space - one fifth the resort's $1.5 billion price tag.

The Venetian also will have an elaborate canal system, and people will be able to ride gondolas to different locations at the resort.

There's a replica of the Campanile Tower rising the height of a football field, and the resort's exterior will feature life-size replicas of some of Venice's most famous landmarks, like the Doge's Palace and the Rialto Bridge.

The hotel lobby will have a domed ceiling 65 feet high. The dome and an adjacent gallery will feature replicas of artwork found in Venice.

The resort will be one of six new hotel-casinos opening in Las Vegas over an 18-month span.

Bellagio opened in October, Mandalay Bay opens March 2, the Resort at Summerlin and the Venetian in April and Paris-Las Vegas in September. The new Aladdin opens in the spring of 2000.

Adelson, who made a fortune in the convention business, notably his Comdex computer shows, is counting on conventions to help fill his rooms at a time when the city's visitor count is stagnant. The hotel is linked to his Sands Expo convention center.

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