To amend and restate the Certificate of Incorporation of the Company to change the name of the Company from “MGM MIRAGE” to “MGM Resorts International” 

This change, if approved (and it most likely will) will take effect immediately – in fact MGM Mirage already has the new domain name up and running – just redirecting to their current site. (http://www.mgmresortsinternational.com) 

As companies grow and evolve over the years – its sometimes necessary for them to change their name to better reflect the direction they are heading in. Some examples which come to mind are Apple Computer changing to Apple, Inc. in January 2007, or who could forget Radio Shack’s corporate name from 1963 until May 2000 - Tandy Corporation. 

There has been some speculation that the reason MGM is dropping the Mirage name is to distance itself from Steve Wynn, who sold Mirage Resorts to MGM Grand, but that sounds too much like a conspiracy theory when it looks like all MGM is trying to do is better reflect their growing stable of businesses and international footprint. 

When MGM Grand, Inc and Mirage Resorts, Inc first merged, each property contained gambling, and was located within the Continental US. Now, MGM-MIRAGE now has a number of non-gambling properties in the planning stages, and they’ve also started to franchise some of their brands through MGM-MIRAGE Hospitality. Plus their footprint now reaches beyond the shores of America from Dubai, to Vietnam and Macau. 

An example of the MGM brands being franchised can be found in the Dubai Pearl development, where they are constructing Bellagio Residences and Hotel, MGM Grand Hote and a Skyloft Hotel (based upon the Skylofts at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.) Two brands that MGM-MIRAGE Hospitality has not really provided details on is their mx and emblem brands which were mentioned in a profile done by Hotels Magazine back in 2008, but that magazine has since shut down their website. 

While I’m sure the brand recognition will help fill these hotel-only resort properties, I think it will be interesting to see how people will respond to going into an MGM Grand w/o being able to gamble. 

andrew@alconic-inc.com 

There are small pockets of land available in different areas of the city – North of the Revel Casino construction site on the boardwalk, directly across the street from the Borgata, between the bay and the Trump Marina, south of the AC Hilton, and a small pocket of land south of the Convention Center where the Trump World (Regency) used to be located. But the biggest site (and potentially most desirable) is Bader Field - the former airport which was one of the first International Airports in America.

Bader Field Is located toward the bottom left- the boardwalk runs along the bottom right and you can just make out the Borgata’s parking garage on the top right.

I’ve had the pleasure of flying into Bader Field a number of times – in the last few decades since the opening and expansion of the Atlantic City International Airport (ACY), Bader Field has slowly gone into obscurity. Just prior to its closing its main traffic was small single engine planes – even the private lear jets of AC’s high rollers preferred to go to ACY even though it was a good 15-20 minutes away from Atlantic City where as Bader Field was located right within the city.

When the airport closed the city government made it clear that they intended for the place to go to casino development – Steve Wynn reportedly looked at it and is interested in using it for his comeback into Atlantic City, other major casino companies – Penn National and MGM have all made inquiries into the site. But nothing has been official until just recently when Atlantic City started taking RFP’s for the development of the property. The goal was to sell the land for hundreds of millions of dollars with an upfront payment to the city which will help them in their time of need.

Unfortunately – the city never really considered that the economy and credit crisis may soften any interest from developers – especially for such an expensive and potentially game changing development. Just last week they decided to extend the deadline for the RFP’s for another 6 months because, as I understood it, they did not receive one RFP. Not one RFP for the most valuable piece of undeveloped land in Atlantic City.

That says a lot for the city and the casino companies. For the city it says they underestimated the casinos – apparently they thought the casino companies would be rushing to knock down the doors to bid on the project – figuring that even a credit crisis, economic downturn, and overall declining casino revenue for the first time in years would have no affect. For the casino companies it says that the climate has gotten so bad that they aren’t even willing to entertain a project at this time. Not even a lowball bid offer.

Personally – I’m also very surprised that the casino companies did not jump all over this. Property like this does not come often, and when its gone – its gone forever. Perhaps the terms of the RFP were to stringent? Perhaps it came along with some strings attached such as requiring a large down payment if the RFP was accepted?

Its interesting because I don’t see this property going to anything else except a touristy/resort type development. No shopping malls, office buildings or housing developments here! Just the ability for those gaming companies who have been looking to get into AC for a long time.

We’ll see how this pans out. I’ll keep an eye on it and report back here if I find anything of significance.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

He started work on the Wynn Las Vegas, then purchased the former Desert Inn casino and built Encore, which is mainly a boutique hotel vs a casino. Wynn hasnt stopped there though – he’s intending on building a conference center, and completely re-doing the Wynn Las Vegas Golf Course. Wynn sees the future bright for high end casinos and super luxury accommodations and Steve Wynn is one of the few who have the golden touch.

Steve has always been over the top – when he opened the Wynn Las Vegas in 2005 he stood atop the roof with a helicopter filming his introduction – almost everyone (myself included) thought it was fake, apparently it wasnt. Not to be outdone, he did the same thing for the Encore, where you can view it on Encore’s website and on TV as well.  To prove it was all real, a behind-the-scenes video was produced.

It’s very impressive. I have to give kudos to Steve for putting himself out there like that, and it shows the dedication he has to his own properties.

You can see all the videos below, take the time to watch them. They are pretty cool.

Wynn Las Vegas Opening Video

Encore Las Vegas Opening Video

Behind-The-Scenes Film for Encore