Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | March 2014 22 COVER STORY In total the resort will encompass 521,000 square meters knit together by rooftop gardens under a glowing dome that will be visible inside and out. High-end retail covering 34,000 square meters and a luxury spa, musts for a 21st century destination, will help round out the offering. There will be swimming pools indoors and out. SJM’s reputation for good food will be on ample display (36,000 square meters of restaurant and entertainment space is contemplated). A further romantic touch is planned in the form of a “wedding pavilion” richly detailed with symbols (dragons, the phoenix, the lotus) associated in Chinese lore with love and marital harmony. The design has been 18 months in the making, according to architect Perry Brown, senior vice president of Southern California- basedWATG and the firm’s partner in charge of the project, which will come together as a three-way collaboration involving also a sister firm of WATG’s, Beverly Hills-basedWimberly Interiors. The selection of WATG, creators of The Venetian Las Vegas and Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas, is emblematic of SJM’s commitment to achieving what Mr Brown calls a “total experience”. “It’s taking it to that next level,” he explains. “It’s what’s going to make this a unique destination.” WATG has designed resorts from Dubai to the Maldives, from Palm Desert, Calif., to Orlando, Fla., from Uncasville, Conn., to Egypt’s Red Sea coast, but few have been more satisfying for him as a work in progress than this one. “SJM, they set the vision, they’re clear with it, they continue to pursue it,” he says. “They respect the quality of Change is what is driving SJM’s thinking about Lisboa Palace, which the company hopes to expand by another 180,000 square meters with adjoining land controlled by the youngest and last of Stanley Ho’s consorts, Angela Leong, who is an executive director of SJM and a major shareholder. “We are mindful,” said Chief Executive Ambrose So, “this is a new area we have come into in which we compete with the other operators.”