Downtown Las Vegas Goes Out on a Limb for New Treehouse Entertainment Complex

Posted on: August 22, 2018, 03:30h. 

Last updated on: August 22, 2018, 03:48h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Downtown Las Vegas’ Arts District will soon become home to what’s being billed as an entertainment complex featuring a variety of social, dining, and event spaces that will be capable of hosting multiple happenings simultaneously.

downtown Las Vegas Treehouse
The downtown Las Vegas Treehouse concept will mix a variety of spaces into one destination. (Image: Rad Studio)

Called the Treehouse Las Vegas, the 22,000-square-foot venue is located nine-tenths of a mile south of the Fremont Street Experience. Owners said this week they’ll spend $7 million to transform the vacant building into an indoor and outdoor arrangement that will feature plush green trees, exotic woods, and other such décor to give guests a rathe unique setting in the Las Vegas desert.

The Treehouse will come with a 300-seat restaurant, indoor and outdoor lounges, sports bar, day and night clubs, rooftop bar, and gaming area featuring poker machines.

13 Action News reports that the owners of the private development are a group of Australian businesspersons who have teamed with a Las Vegas hospitality entrepreneur.

No timetable was given as to when Treehouse Las Vegas might open. Its location will be within walking distance of the October 1 Remembrance Wall at the Las Vegas Community Healing Garden.

Move Over Gaming

The Treehouse is the latest investment in Las Vegas that seemingly has little to do with gambling.

“The whole concept of the different spaces is that you can have an event in the pool area separate from an event happening in the interior, which could be separated from the speakeasy bar,” Treehouse architect Ryan Allord explained. “It’s definitely a new concept for the area.”

Treehouse isn’t alone in developing mixed-use attractions. A 112,000-square-foot marijuana dispensary complex equipped with much more than just pot is in the works west of the Strip near Trump International Hotel at the intersection of Desert Inn Road and Sammy Davis Jr Drive.

Planet 13 – as it will be known – will be one of the world’s largest marijuana dispensaries. Along with 45 checkout registers, the property will feature numerous attractions including sensory-activated floors that illuminate as customers walk, floating aerial orbs, and a laser graffiti wall.

Developers there say the goal is to “out-Vegas Vegas.”

On the Strip, a bit more of a gaming-centric but still experience-driven project is “Kind Heaven,” a $100 million development at the LINQ Promenade that promises to provide “immersive entertainment.” Envisioned by Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell, the space will be a Southeast Asian-themed venue offering “exoticism, exploration, mystery, and spiritual enlightenment.”

Downtown Upswing

Downtown Las Vegas casinos have been on a winning streak over the last year, with gross gambling revenue (GGR) clocking in at $631.25 million in 2017, a 12 percent year-over-year gain. It’s why Derek Stevens, owner of the D Las Vegas, is building a 1.2 million-square-foot casino hotel on the grounds of where the Las Vegas Club, Mermaids, and Glitter Gulch stood for decades.

The Fremont Street Experience, a coalition made up of the district’s casinos, is spending $32 million to renovate its famed 1,500-foot-long and 90-foot-wide canopy. Once finished, the screen will be seven times brighter, four times sharper, and be viewable during daylight hours.