Maxim Plans ‘Flirtatious’ Vegas Hotel

Maxim, the racy men’s magazine, plans to lend its name to a more than $1.2-billion hotel casino that would open in 2010 on the Las Vegas Strip, the publisher said Monday.

“It’s going to be upscale, it’s going to be four-star, it’s going to be sexy and flirtatious, absolutely,” said Barry Pincus, director of brand development for Maxim publisher Dennis Publishing Inc. “But it’ll also be fun, it’ll be comfortable.”

Maxim plans to partner with Los Angeles- and Las Vegas-based real estate developer Concord Wilshire Partners to build the 2,300-room resort with a 60,000-square foot casino on nine acres just north of the Circus Circus casino hotel. Construction is expected to begin in late 2007.

A management company would be hired to run the casino and hotel, Pincus said. Maxim would gain licensing fees from the operation, which would also include a 3,000-seat concert venue as well as a pool, spa, retail stores, restaurants and a Rande Gerber-operated nightclub called Maxim Lounge.

About 2,000 of the rooms are expected to be condominium units that can be rented as hotel rooms when the owners are not there, Pincus said.

Maxim, which is published in 45 countries, has a U.S. audience of 13.7 million readers with an average age of 28.