Thursday, February 23, 2006

Jones Lang LaSalle

UPDATE: 800-Room Tower Is Key to Borgata's $325M Phase II
By Eric Peterson
Last updated: February 23, 2006 08:11am

ATLANTIC CITY-Boyd and MGM Mirage have unveiled detailed plans for what's to come in the second phase of the Borgata expansion. The $325-million Phase II will add 800 rooms in a 40-story tower connected to the original property. The addition will boost the Borgata to some 2,800 rooms--a Las Vegas-size number--and the project is supported by the data that even with an Atlantic City-tops 2,000 rooms, the Borgata consistently turns out a 97% occupancy rate.

The new tower also has a name: Boyd officials have dubbed it the “Water Club.” Besides the added room count, the second phase will include a two-story, 36,000-sf spa, plus additional retail and meeting space. The room count will include what Borgata officials term “three residences modeled after chic New York-style lofts.”

Last year, Boyd Gaming and MGM Mirage announced that they would expand their jointly owned Borgata Hotel, Casino & Spa to the tune of $525 million. The property had been open for just 16 months at that point, completed at the cost of $1.1 billion. The expansion was to be in two phases, and the $200-million first phase is nearing completion and slated for delivery this spring. The first phase of the expansion consists mostly of new casino space, several eateries and a nightclub.

“We conceived the Water Club as an exclusive extension to the international style that defines Borgata,” says former Borgata president and COO Robert Boughner. Boughner oversaw the design of the Water Club before, as reported by GlobeSt.com, moving west in January to run Echelon Resorts, a new Boyd Gaming project in Las Vegas.

Actual work will start shortly with a late 2007 delivery slated. The design and construction team for the phase includes Yates-Tishman Construction Corp, architects Bauer Lewis Thrower & Associates, principal interior designers Laurence Lee Associates and interior and exterior landscapers Lifescapes International. Boyd Gaming and MGM Mirage, both of Las Vegas, are 50-50 owners of the Borgata, and the property is managed by Boyd.