Caesars Entertainment broke ground on their $375 million, 550,000-square-foot, LEED silver-rated Caesars Forum conference center in Las Vegas on Monday. The building, which will open in 2020, has already brought in more than $70 million in conference business.
The gaming and entertainment company is betting big on the ever-growing conference industry with this development. According to Skift, using data on employment projections from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the conventions, meetings, and events industry is expected to grow by more than 40% between 2010 and 2020. Average industry and employment growth is estimated to be 14%.
Caesars is already a leader in the industry, having hosted nearly 2 million meeting participants at 17,300 meetings and events in 2017, according to Mark Frissora, president and CEO of the company. Its eight properties located at the center of the Las Vegas Strip position Caesars to profit massively at their casinos, hotels, and restaurants because they are within walking distance of the new building.
“Caesars Entertainment is an undisputed leader in the meetings industry,” Frissora said in a statement. “With our geographic advantage, and the demand for meetings space exceeding available inventory, this project builds on our strategy to provide a value-add to meeting planners, guests and investors.”
The new development will be just one, expansive level, with the two largest pillarless ballrooms in the world (the size of 27 tennis courts combined). It will also feature 100,000 square feet of outdoor meeting space. By using more than 2 miles of airwalls, 300,000 square feet of the center will be adaptable to customers’ meeting needs. The forum will be able to hold more than 10,000 people at a time.
Building Caesars Forum will create 1,000 construction jobs and more than 450 permanent jobs once it opens, the company says.
