Wynn’s lagoon project would use less water than 18-hole golf course

Steve Wynn’s proposed 38-acre lagoon project, tentatively called Wynn Paradise Park, would use less water than the 18-hole golf course that currently sits east of the Strip resort.

Uri Man, CEO of Crystal Lagoons US Corp. of Coral Gables, Florida, said that a 7- to 10-acre lagoon would use 30 times less water than a typical golf course and 50 percent less water than a park of the same size.

Wynn told a company investment conference last week that he’s planning a 1,000-room expansion centered around a lagoon that would host water skiing, paddle boarding and parasailing during the day and fireworks displays at night.

A company statement indicated the plan was preliminary and several changes could be made before final approval.

Wynn said the attraction could open in 2020 if work begins later this year as planned. The project needs approval from the company’s board of directors before it could proceed.

But Wynn and Man have already met and begun planning the lagoon near which a new tower would be built. The new building wouldn’t be as tall as the existing Wynn Las Vegas and Encore towers but would have the same bronze-toned color scheme as those facilities and one of his Macau properties, based on a model Wynn’s team built.

In the center of the lake, which would be lined along a 1-mile perimeter with white-sand beaches and a boardwalk, would be a 120-foot island from which fireworks could be launched.

Man said the Wynn lagoon would be the largest of his projects in the United States and the largest in the world until a Dubai project eclipses it. A Crystal Lagoon project is being built with shorelines on islands along channels filled with residences in Dubai.

The first lagoon was built in Chile 17 years ago. A 30-acre project in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt is currently the largest in the company’s portfolio of about 300 projects with the 90-acre plan in Dubai to become the largest when completed.

Planners haven’t determined the depth of the Wynn lagoon, but other projects typically are 9 to 15 feet deep.

Man said the Crystal Lagoon concept was developed by Chilean founder Fernando Fischmann, a biochemist who saw potential for real estate development along the shores of artificial water features.

“Our lagoons provide real estate developments with substantial quantifiable benefits such as increases in pricing, sales velocity, higher rents and in many cases, the lagoons are being used to transform otherwise non-viable development sites into viable development sites,” Man said. “We are currently participating in more than 300 projects in 60 countries. We have 13 announced projects in the United States in Texas, Nevada and Florida with more than 40 under negotiation.”

One of the key patented innovations is the use of disinfection pulses that allow using up to 100 times fewer chemicals than swimming pools and also the use of an ultrasonic filtration system that uses up to 50 times less energy than conventional filtration systems.

“Our technology is an entire process and the final result makes it possible to have a massive crystal-clear lagoon at very low costs of construction and maintenance,” Man said.

Man said the filtration system could use desalinated or brackish water to develop a lagoon. For Wynn Paradise Park, the company owns the water rights under the golf course, grandfathered in from the Desert Inn Golf Course that once stood on the property, and would use water from wells on the property.

But the company views a transition to a lagoon as an environmental step forward with less water use.

“For us, this is a remarkable opportunity because we would be able to showcase our Crystal Lagoon technology to millions of visitors to Las Vegas,” Man said. “Mr. Wynn has a vision to reinvent Las Vegas by bringing water to visitors. Instead of people traveling to the Caribbean for clear blue water on sandy beaches, he is bringing the Caribbean to them.”

Before the current resort was developed, Wynn in 2001 proposed a 49-story, 2,455-room hotel on a 4-acre lake on the property that was to be called Le Reve. Years later, the property was renamed Wynn Las Vegas.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta