Desert Passage Shops Open as Miracle Mile.
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By Lauren Mang
In the theme capital of the world – where visitors can sample pastries at the base of the Eiffel Tower or ride a roller coaster past the Statueof Liberty – “restraint” is a relative term. Yet the owners of Las Vegas’ Shops at Desert Passage decided a more modern, classic concept better fit the city’s new profile and the mall’s new adjacencies. The newly reopened mall is now the Miracle Mile Shops, a reference to fancy shopping districts in Beverly Hills, Manhasset, N.Y. and Coral Gables, Fla. It’s part of the new Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, which replaced the old Aladdin Hotel in April.
The Aladdin was opened in 1966 and hosted Elvis’ 1967 wedding to Priscilla. Desert Passage followed in 2000, a response to the success of the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace and general demand for improved shopping in Las Vegas. But the casino ran into financial trouble and was sold in 2003 to a partnership of Planet Hollywood and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. After a long run with a Moroccan theme, the mall was bought by Tri Star Capital and RFR Holding for $241 million.
Another $75 million later, the magic carpets and genie lamps are gone, replaced with a sleek and modern look, dark wood and contemporary architecture.
“At some point, a theme is neither unique nor current anymore in Las Vegas,” says Wendy Albert, director of marketing for Miracle Mile Shops. “We saw an opportunity to utilize the Planet Hollywood rebranding and create a design in a similar vein for the shopping center.”
Heading Miracle Mile’s retail makeover was Gensler of Nevada, in collaboration with The Friedmutter Group (Las Vegas) and Studio B (New York). But the transformation wasn’t a simple task. “Initially we found that removing all of the ornamentation was too costly,” says John Bricker, principal and creative director for Gensler of Nevada. “So instead, we painted out some of the existing design elements in a palette of whites – from bright whites to off gray – to save money.”
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