As reported previously (see “Star Trek: The Experience” to Close September 2008), the long-running CBS Paramount attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton was shut down late last year after more than a decade in operation. Now reports have emerged announcing the return of “The Experience” in early May, at a new downtown Vegas location, Neonopolis Center.
The preliminary details can be found at SciFiWire.com:
Based on the report from SciFiWire, it sounds as though the initial return will be limited to “Quark’s Bar” and some combination of shop and exhibit. It will reportedly not include the elements which reflect the “Experience” in the title of the attraction – the Star Trek: The Next Generation (“Klingon Encounter”) and Star Trek: Voyager (“Borg Invasion 4-D”).
The costumes, the historic timeline, models of the ships and other items at the Star Trek The Experience exhibit will be moved to a museum that is planned for the new location, but much of the exhibit probably won’t be opened until the end of 2010.
“I wouldn’t expect the cool stuff for about a year,” Hansel said. “A lot of it also depends on the popularity of the movie and how well it does, but the trailer looks like it’s going to be pretty great.”
It sounds as though the coming release of the new J.J. Abrams film and relaunch of the original series over the summer has prompted CBS Paramount to revisit interest in the franchise and will build upon the attraction should it prove to be significant and profitable.
Neonopolis, per Wikipedia:
Neonopolis, a 250,000 sq ft shopping mall, is a $100 million entertainment complex in Las Vegas, Nevada located on top of a $15 million city parking garage. It is located on the Fremont Street Experience, at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard. In keeping with the complex’s name, it contains three miles of neon lights.
Neonopolis has so far been a failure commercially, cycling through several buyers until it reached its current owners in 2006. Developer Rohit Joshi purchased the property in 2006 for $25m and announced that the intended to rename it Fremont Square, but there has been little done to re-brand the name.
Based on an article by the Las Vegas Sun this past November (see Has Neonopolis achieved liftoff?), it sounds as though the venue itself has had it’s own issues to contend with:
For years, the hulking downtown retail structure called Neonopolis has remained mostly empty, save for a restaurant and pool hall anchoring one ground floor corner, and a sparsely attended movie theater complex on its top floor.
It was the great hope of downtown redevelopment when it opened in May 2002, and by most accounts it had failed. Long-promised restaurants and night life venues never materialized. Some businesses came, fell flat and left. Dozens of others resisted moving there in the first place.
At least that used to be the story.
The 250,000-square-foot, $100 million, box-shaped mall may finally be fulfilling its potential. In the process, a symbol of downtown Las Vegas’ difficulties could become a sign of its growing viability.
Neonopolis seems to be attracting so much attention at once that Mayor Oscar Goodman – who in the past has noted the project was launched by a previous administration – was moved to dance around his chair at a recent City Council meeting.
“Neonopolis, as I’ve always characterized it, has been my albatross,” Goodman said at an Oct. 30 news conference. “I’ve had to live with it, but I was never happy with what was happening there.
“As I stand here today, it could be the tipping point as far as success down there.”
Jason De Bord
Jason DeBord, Original Prop Blog