Caesars touting tenants at new Vegas Strip project

The Associated Press, Monday, October 1, 2012, 8:00am (PDT)

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Casino giant Caesars Entertainment is announcing some of the tenants lined up for a new dining, entertainment and shopping district opening next year with a big observation wheel amid some of the company's big Las Vegas properties.

Project chief Jon Gray likes to say the $550 million LINQ development will be at the 50-yard line of the Las Vegas Strip.

LINQ is being leased by Rick Caruso, the owner-operator of The Grove shopping and entertainment district in Los Angeles

It includes the first Western U.S. site of a Brooklyn Bowl concert, nightclub, bar, bowling alley and restaurant venue.

Others include a two-story Yard House beer hall and a two-story Asian-themed food, art, music and entertainment venue featuring everything from sushi to noodles, robata and dim sum.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

A Brooklyn Bowl entertainment venue, a Yard House beer bar and an Asian-themed food and art marketplace are among anchor tenants coming to a master-planned complex being built at the base of a big new Las Vegas Strip observation wheel, Caesars Entertainment Corp. officials will announce Monday.

Twelve tenants have claimed a little more than two-thirds of the space in LINQ, said Jon Gray, a Caesars vice president and project manager of LINQ. The pedestrian mall is named for its location linking three company properties — Harrah's Las Vegas, the Flamingo and the renamed Quad, formerly the Imperial Palace — across Las Vegas Boulevard from the flagship Caesars Palace.

"It's located at the 50-yard line of the Las Vegas Strip," Gray told The Associated Press. "This is an easy project to sell because of the number of people coming through there. It's within walking distance of 24,000 hotel rooms."

Gray pointed to company tallies putting the number of pedestrians passing the location in the millions every year, and to plans that call for it to lead like a Main Street or midway to the 550-foot-tall Ferris-style wheel, dubbed the High Roller. It is expected to open in late 2013.

LINQ designers plan open-air walkable space with upscale storefronts, terraces and patios amid the three-story complex.

"Nightclubs, bars, bowling alleys. This includes everything," Gray said. "They're going to program this 24 hours a day."

The first Western U.S. site of a Brooklyn Bowl concert, nightclub, bar, bowling alley and restaurant venue will take up about 25 percent of the 300,000-square-foot development. Brooklyn Bowl is being designed with a 600-seat performance hall able to host crowds watching football on Sundays, DJ or hip-hop karaoke and nightly concerts.

Gray said the Yard House restaurant aims to slake the thirsts of beer fans, while the Asian-themed F.A.M.E. — for food, art, music and entertainment — market will offer sushi, dim sum, noodle bowls and robata grill foods to patrons in lounge seating and street art from urban Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore and Seoul.

Other tenants include Sprinkles, a Los Angeles-based cupcake and ice cream shop; Flower and Barley, a brick oven pizzeria; Koto, an oddities and gifts store with outlets in Miami and Aspen, Colo.; and Off the Strip, a bistro and bar.

Company officials say as many as 3,000 construction workers could work to build the project. It is expected to employ 1,500 people once it is open.