Marina Bay Sands Resort in Singapore
Marina Bay Sands is an integrated resort facing Singapore’s Marina Bay, which is an acronym (MBS).
When the resort opened in 2010, it was considered the world’s most expensive standalone casino property, valued at 8 billion Singapore dollars or 6.88 billion US dollars.
It is also owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation.
Resort Contents
The resort includes 2,561 rooms and a conference and exhibition center of 120,000 square meters (1,300,000 square feet).
And The Shoppes, with an area of 74,322 square meters (800,000 square feet) in the Marina Bay Sands shopping center, a museum, and a grand theatre.
Also “celebrity chef” restaurants, two floating crystal pavilions, science art galleries,
and the world’s largest casino with 500 tables and 1,600 slot machines.
The complex also includes three towers topped with a 340-meter (1,120-foot) connected sky park with a capacity of 3,902 people and a 150-meter (490-foot) infinity pool.
The SkyPark links the three hotel towers at roof level.
The SkyPark observation deck cantilevers 66.5 m (218 ft) beyond the north tower.
The 20-hectare resort was designed by Moshe Safdie Architects
Marina Bay Sands Hotel was originally scheduled to open in 2009,
but its construction has faced delays due to escalating material costs and labor shortages from the start.
The global financial crisis has also pressured the owners, the Las Vegas Sands,
to postpone its projects elsewhere to complete the integrated resort.
The owner also decided to open the integrated resort in stages,
and it was approved by the Singaporean authorities.
The resort and SkyPark officially opened on June 23 and 24, 2010 as part of a two-day celebration, following the opening of the casino on April 27 of that year.
Sky Park opened the next day, and the stage was completed in time for River dance’s first performance on November 30.
The indoor rink, which uses artificial ice, was also opened to Michel Kwan on December 18.
The Museum of Science and Arts opened to the public, and the debut of the 13-minute light,
laser and water show, Wonder Full, on February 19, 2011 marked the complete completion of the integrated resort.
Marina Bay Sands opening
Marina Bay Sands opened on February 17, 2011. It also saw the opening of seven popular chef restaurants.
The final part of Marina Bay Sands, the floating suites, was finally opened to the public when the two tenants,
Louis Vuitton and Club Pangea, opened on September 18 and 22, 2011, respectively.
Marina Bay Sands Tower IV is also set to be constructed by 2026.
Marina Bay Sands is one of the two winning proposals for Singapore’s first integrated resorts,
the other being Resorts World Sentosa, which houses the family-friendly Universal Studios theme park (Universal Studios Singapore).
Designed to meet Singapore’s economic and tourism goals for the next decade,
these two mega-projects will have 30-year casino licenses, exclusively for the first 10 years.
Bidders were evaluated based on four criteria: tourism attractiveness and contribution,
architectural concept and design, development investment, and strength of the consortium and partners.
Infinity pool at Skypark
On May 27, 2006, when Las Vegas Sands (LVS) was declared the winner of its business-oriented resort,
LVS submitted its winning bid on its own.
Its original partner City Developments Limited (CDL), with a proposed 15% stake,
withdrew from the partnership in the second phase of the bidding process.
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