Wynn’s Way

How much hotel does $2.7 billion buy? Steve Wynn will provide the answer today in Las Vegas as he unveils the latest over-the-top casino mega-resort on the Strip, and the first one to bear his name.

Forget about Bugsy Siegel or Howard Hughes; Wynn is clearly Sin City’s iconic builder. Today’s Las Vegas was defined by Wynn’s unveiling of the Mirage in 1989. Critics scoffed that Wynn would never recoup the $630 million he poured into the place, courtesy of Michael Milken’s junk bonds.

That price tag now seems quaint. The Mirage begat the Bellagio -- not to mention competitors like the Venetian -- and a monster bid for Wynn’s company from MGM’s Kirk Kerkorian. Wynn is now getting back in the game.

The Wynn Las Vegas will be different, Wynn promised The Times’ editorial board earlier this year, a hotel built “from the inside out.” All previous Vegas casinos sought to lure gamblers in from the Strip, but this one will feature a $130-million man-made mountain out front that seems designed to shield hotel guests from the outside world.

Wynn realized long ago that Las Vegas resorts could make much more from their non-gambling amenities than their casinos if they offered a truly unique experience, and this was the real conceptual break from the old mob-ruled town. The new Las Vegas is not only the country’s ultimate adult playground -- the pretense of being a Disney-like family destination has largely been dropped -- it’s a permanent World’s Fair, where American industry convenes to show off its wares. The convention business is driving the next wave of growth in America’s fastest-growing major city, which boasts nearly twice as many hotel rooms as New York City.

Thanks in large measure to Steve Wynn, Las Vegas, a soul mate to our own city of dreams, has become a monument to American marketing hubris, and excess.