Studio City ’ s grand opening was a star-studded event : ( at left ) Melco Crown Entertainment Co-Chairman Lawrence Ho with wife Sharon and James Packer , with girlfriend Mariah Carey ; Actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro with director Martin Scorsese ; Celebrity chefs make a toast
with Studio City , we have ambitiously planned and developed the property to engage the much broader group of leisure entertainment seekers who want emotionally engaging experiences that they can share with friends and family ,” says JD Clayton , the president of Macau Studio City . “ This vision of Mr . Ho has brought a new life to Studio City .”
Gary Goddard ’ s Goddard Group was named the lead design firm , and along with the architect of record , Leigh & Orange , the two companies collaborated in bringing Ho ’ s vision to life .
“ When Melco-Crown became the majority owner in the project , Lawrence Ho decided that the previously designed ‘ contemporary steel and glass building ’ did not really communicate the idea of a destination that was to be about entertainment , nightlife , recreation and fun ,” Goddard explains . “ As a fan of cinema in all its many forms , Mr . Ho decided the new resort should be iconic in a way that would create excitement for visitors to Macau . He wanted a destination that would draw its inspiration from the world of motion pictures and entertainment . And he wanted a new resort that would become Macau ’ s next ‘ must-see ’ destination .
“ The only thing we were asked to retain was the basic foundation , as the steel was already being installed on site . So we kept the foundation , but then set about
creating an all-new approach to the design . Our goal was to create something that would be immediately iconic , meaning that it had to be different than anything else in Macau , and ideally , anything else in the world . So we looked to classic motion pictures and decided to create something that would , like the greatest movies in history , be an epic and larger than life in every way .
“ We set about creating a design for Studio City that would recall the power and energy of the silver screen with a number of unique elements that would echo our memories from event movies of the past and present .”
Jettisoning Junkets n what would have been heresy a few
Ishort years ago , Ho decided to forgo the VIP rooms that had been standard in every casino in Macau .
“ We steered away from the VIP market a long time ago ,” he told the Macau Daily Times . “ I think we are the second least reliant on VIP customers out of the six concessionaires . The VIP contribution to our overall group , even before Studio City , was less than 10 percent , so that is not that important to us at the moment .” The thorny question of how many table games would be granted to Studio
City was resolved just days before opening when the government approved 250 tables at the property . While it fell short of the 400 that had been requested , it was 100 more than was granted to the second phase of Galaxy when it opened last May ( Galaxy was granted an additional 100 tables at the same time the Studio City allotment was announced ). However , Ho will be forced to renegotiate loan terms , which required 400 tables .
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