sportsbook and the transportation center , are the six pools on various levels on the podium of the building Stadium Swim . The pool experience is always important in a Las Vegas resort , but at Circa it ’ s the crucial and most visible piece of the entire building .
But designing a pool isn ’ t the most simple thing . Since Las Vegas has approximately 350 sunny days a year , the way the sun would hit the pool is a very important factor . Steelman says Stevens was intimately involved in those decisions .
“ We did sun studies on this pool ,” he says , “ and we did every day and every hour . Derek actually sat there and watched the entire movie , every day and every hour , multiple times . And it just spins around , and the sun ’ s going from here to there , to make sure that we weren ’ t making the screen too tall , or the afternoon sun in the winter would work , and things of this nature .”
Stevens says the pools are the centerpiece of the hotel , and that they are different than any other pool experience in Las Vegas .
“ First is really the scale ,” he says . “ Stadium Swim will be a key feature in Circa Las Vegas , with a capacity of around 4,000 . We have the second-largest screen in the U . S . to watch all sports , only behind the screen at AT & T Stadium in Texas . And this is a stadium to watch events and enjoy the sun . We ’ ll have programming that will be far more musically orientated throughout most of the day . So , as opposed to us designing a pool as an amenity for a hotel , with 512 rooms and suites , you could almost say our hotel is designed as an amenity to Stadium Swim .”
Another feature unique to Circa will be the year-round nature of the pools . Stevens says he always wondered why the pools in Vegas shut down for months at a time when the weather isn ’ t really that bad .
“ Obviously I ’ d been out here Memorial Day , Fourth of July , Labor Day , you know , all throughout the summer ,” he says . “ But you come out in December , January , the pools are always closed . I always wondered why the pools close in Las Vegas , but they can stay open at Vail , or Park City , or Aspen . For those of you that have been out to a ski resort , whether it ’ s in northern Michigan or Montana or Utah or Colorado , in December and January , when it ’ s snowing out and 5 degrees , the pool scene ’ s a pretty cool scene .
“ Our top pools of the upper deck , we can heat them up to 103 degrees . What we wanted to do is to create a 365-day experience , so that when people come to Circa there ’ s consistency that pools will be open , and yeah , temperatures are different , but we ’ ll create a vibe that we ’ ll be open every night , every day .
“ Our pools won ’ t close . It ’ ll be the greatest pool in Las Vegas . It ’ ll be the greatest pool in America . This will be the greatest pool in the history of the world ! That ’ s what Stadium Swim ’ s going to be .”
Rooms to Move
When Stevens first bought a Vegas property , it wasn ’ t the most modern property in the city .
“ The Golden Gate is the oldest building in the history of Las Vegas ,” he says . “ 1 Fremont Street . And when the Golden Gate was designed in 1904 or 1905 , well , the average American wasn ’ t quite as big as what they are now . You know , the ceiling heights at the Golden Gate sometimes don ’ t even hit 7 feet .”
And while there were significant renovations at both the Golden Gate and the D , both properties were constrained by space . There are few suites in either hotel . But that ’ s not the case with Circa .
“ We ’ re going to be heavily weighted on suites ,” says Stevens . “ We ’ re going to open with 777 rooms and 60 suites — six two-bedrooms and the rest will be one bedroom . We ’ ll have a handful of hospitality suites and some bunk rooms , party suites and things like that . We think there ’ s a certain element where when you have big groups that come out , we ’ ll let them sleep in a bunk room , but they ’ ll have a huge living room out front , with a bar , and TVs and couches . We ’ re excited about this room product , and we ’ re excited about having far more suites in our mix .
“ We ’ ve done something with design , with much taller ceilings , with much more spacious showers and bathrooms — much taller showerheads , and things like that .” Even the standard rooms are something special , say Stevens . “ Our average square footage is 450 or 460 square feet ,” he says . “ We did something from a design perspective — we ran an offset hallway . Our tower runs west to east , and our hallway ’ s not straight down the middle of the tower . It ’ s shaded by about 20 inches to the north , which provides for standard rooms that are a little bit larger to the south than the north . The south , on the lower part of the tower , faces Stadium Swim . And the south on the higher part of the tower gives you the Strip views . We think the rooms are ready for today ’ s customer , and ready to last for a while .” Steelman says a lot of other elements went into the tower . “ We wanted a short walk to the rooms ,” he says . “ We want the elevators to be designated to the customer . We believe in creating not only stratified hotel rooms , or stratified hotel floors on the basis of suites and standard rooms , but also then , those elevators engaging in the podium in the proper sort of way .” But when you get to the top of the tower , that ’ s where Circa really shines . “ I think we have captured a view that nobody has ,” says Steelman . “ I think the view from the Legacy Club on the roof is probably one of the most spectacular views in Las Vegas . I always thought the Stratosphere had a spectacular view , but seeing the Stratosphere from this 400-plus-foot-tall building really empowered us .”
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