The design phase for the Crystal Pavilion project – a new glass-and-steel extension due to be sited in the grounds of the Wynn Palace casino resort in Macau’s Cotai district – has already been completed, said Wynn Macau Ltd’s vice-chairman and chief operating officer, Linda Chen (pictured in a file photo) in comments on Saturday to local media on the sidelines of a public event. She added that the Covid-19 pandemic had not altered the course of the Macau gaming licensee’s ongoing investment in the city.
She reiterated an earlier statement by the firm, that construction of Crystal Pavilion was likely to start in 2021. The company’s Macau gaming concession is due to expire in June 2022, along with the rights of the other five existing licensees. There is due to be a public retender process in Macau associated with that event.
Wynn Macau operates Wynn Macau, on the city’s peninsula, as well as Wynn Palace.
Wynn Resorts Ltd, the U.S.-based parent of Wynn Macau Ltd, had first given details last year of the Crystal Pavilion project and an associated 650-room hotel tower for the southern portion of Wynn Palace’s government land concession, and mentioned an aggregate of US$2-billion in initial budget.
Wynn Resorts had also noted that the construction of the expansion project was expected to take “36-plus months”.
When asked on Saturday whether Wynn Macau Ltd expected to see local gaming rights refreshed for the company, Ms Chen said her employer was “definitely confident”.
She added: “… we are a local company rooted in Macau and… developing here for the long term. So we are not worried of any deadlines…”
Several former legal advisors to post-handover governments in Macau, said during a Thursday webinar, that the Covid-19 crisis, which had affected Macau tourism and business in the city’s casinos, might lead to a postponement of the public tender process. The possibility of rolling over the existing licences in increments, up to a maximum of five years beyond scheduled expiry, is envisaged in Macau’s existing gaming law.
Ms Chen said on Saturday, that she was anticipating the remainder of the second half this year would mark a “restart” for Macau’s gaming and tourism sector.
“Our business now – whether it is hotel occupancy or visitor volume – has been recovering gradually,” she said, “For this year what we are expecting is a stable but not any sudden, explosive recovery.”
