By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
In old cities like New York it’s all about who you know and family legacies. But in Las Vegas you can roll into town, roll out a line of credit and create your own legacy in less than a generation’s time.
That’s what downtown developer/sports fan/gambling maven/part-showman Derek Stevens did. The 53-year-old Michigan native from Detroit is both old school and new school and he blended both business styles into the first new hotel-casino in downtown Las Vegas in 40 years.
Circa at Main Street and the Fremont Experience sits on a city block. It’s a dazzling new hotel resort, one that could go toe-to-toe with the properties owned by MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment or Sheldon Adelson on the Las Vegas Strip.
But in downtown Las Vegas, 44-story Circa stands above all its neighbors like the Plaza and Golden Nugget. It’s a whale of a resort with an oldtimey Las Vegas feel in a downtown hotel pond of minnows. I know it’s not an official business term, but it takes balls to open a hotel of this scope in downtown Las Vegas during a pandemic when travel to Sin City is down and the economy is sputtering.
Stevens opened up the stunning new property to the media Tuesday ahead of the Wednesday at midnight opening. Tour guides showed the six-pool, three-tier Stadium Swim that sits on the fifth level; the massive, three-level sportsbook with theater-style seats and the gargantuan 134-by-41-foot screen where Stevens held court Tuesday morning; and the 8,000 square feet of gaming space that included 1,350 slot machines and 49 table games.
Construction began in February 2019 and moved ahead through the coronavirus pandemic with at least one construction worker reporting being infected with COVID-19. Local contractor McCarthy Building Companies, which worked on the Raiders’ $2 billion stadium project, oversaw construction of Circa, which is expected to cost in the $1 billion ballpark. For the record, Stevens will not discuss the Circa construction cost and will not confirm or deny any numbers. He did tell LVSportsBiz.com in December 2019 that say it’s being financed by 60 percent equity and 40 percent through capital market.
Stevens is very different from the formal corporate style of Las Vegas hotel-casino players like MGM Resorts International and Adelson’s Sands Corp. He’s a fun-loving guy who has a streak of showman in him and who enjoys to place wagers on sports.
On Tuesday morning he was seen doing interviews in the sports book, his pride-and-joy that has a monster-sized screen that takes 10 workers to configurate and was installed by Daktronics, the company known for building super-sized scoreboards in stadiums and ballparks like the Las Vegas Aviators’ baseball park in Downtown Summerlin.
Stevens played the leading role in a high-profile TV spot hyping the launch of Circa. Take a look.
The Circa sportsbook, billed as the world’s biggest is a vital asset. Sports gambling is, as they say, a growth industry.
The 2018 Supreme Court decision that removed the legal barriers for states to enact sports gambling will benefit Las Vegas because more sports gamblers in states around the country will want to experience the Circa sports book as a destination experience, Stevens told LVSportsBiz.com in the past.
Stevens loves sports. He’s a big University of Michigan fan and his The D Las Vegas hotel-casino and Golden Gate hotel are Vegas Golden Knights downtown sponsors. Across from The D is the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, an outdoor sports and entertainment venue that hosts everything from professional fights to beer festivals to concerts.
Stevens’ down-to-earth style dovetails nicely into Las Vegas’ gritty downtown and Fremont Street Experience, with Circa having an entrance right on The Experience.
The west side of the Circa property abuts Main Street and across the street is the 982-space parking garage that Stevens has officially called, Garage Mahal.
Stevens and his family used to own the former Las Vegas 51s, which were sold for $20 million to Howard Hughes Corporation in 2013 and re-branded into the Aviators when Howard Hughes Corp. — the Summerlin master developer — moved the Triple baseball team in the Pacific Coast League from downtown’s aging Cashman Field to the sparkling new Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin.
Stevens loves off-beat marketing tactics, like when he gave away 2,000 free flights to Las Vegas to help kickstart the Las Vegas market economy when hotels re-opened in June after they were locked down in April and May because of the pandemic.
LVSportsBiz.com recommends four things to do while at Circa besides hitting the pools.
First, Belly up to the Megabar. It’s 165 feet long with 46 TV screens and 53 tabletop gaming screens. It beats The Long Bar at The D by 65 feet.
Second, check out Saginaw’s deli for your corned beef or pastrami sandwiches. I met Paul Saginaw Tuesday and he’s the real deal.
Third, you know how Vegas Golden Knights face-of-the-franchise goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was demoted to playing as the back-up to starting goalie Robin Lehner? Well, if you need to see Fleury more — or a replica of Fleury — just visit Circa to find a LEGO version of Fleury in this LEGO statue gallery.
And fourth, a cool touch in the sportsbook is the old newspaper clippings topping the tables. LVSportsBiz.com eyed a paper with a John L. Smith mugshot and column.
Just a couple of things to remember. You have to be 21 and older to step foot in the adult-only Circa and the hotel rooms won’t be available until Dec. 28. The hotel will open with 512 rooms initially.
For a story showing Circa aerials, click here.
If you like LVSportsBiz.com, please support our journalism by making a donation in the website’s popup donation window or please buy advertising space on LVSportsBiz.com. We do not charge for our stories and coverage and our content is not behind a paywall. But please consider making a donation to help LVSportsBiz.com pay the bills. And also buy Alan Snel’s new book by emailing him at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com.