Building permit: Caesars Entertainment Corporation has been granted permission to build the wheel, which should be the tallest in the world at 550ftCaesars Entertainment Corporation, the business behind 50 casinos including Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, has announced it has permission to build the world's tallest observation wheel on the Vegas Strip.
The Ferris-style wheel, dubbed the High Roller, is expected to stand 550ft tall, nine feet taller than the Singapore Flyer - the current world record holder - and 110ft taller than the London Eye, the tallest observation wheel in Europe.
The High Roller is the centerpiece of a planned $550 million development, dubbed LINQ, expected to open next year between the company's Harrah's Las Vegas, Imperial Palace and Flamingo Las Vegas casinos.
Spinning on the strip: The High Roller observation wheel will dominate the skyline in Las Vegas after it opens in 2013Crucially, the Caesars project would also be 50ft taller than a rival wheel called SkyVue currently under construction about three miles south on Las Vegas Boulevard. That wheel is also expected to open in late 2013.
Caesars project chief David Codiga said the amusement and transportation systems permit received from Clark County showed the High Roller, modelled after the London and Singapore structures, met rigorous national design, construction, maintenance, operation and safety standards.
Mr Codiga said: 'We learned from those experiences and we've used a design team with the experience to adapt them to Las Vegas. This allows us to complete the project.'
Artists impression: The rival Vegas wheel SkyVue , at 500ft, is also set to be finished in 2013 - the same year as the High Roller project
Big wheels: The Singapore Flyer, left, and the Star Of Nanchung in China, right, are the two tallest Ferris-style observation wheels in the world, at 541ft and 525ft respectively 
Northern Hemisphere record: The London Eye, at 443ft, is the largest observation wheel in EuropeCounty spokesman Erik Pappa confirmed that Caesars had been granted the permit.
As designed, the wheel is oriented parallel to the casino-lined Strip. It would have 28 air-conditioned bubble-like cabins capable of accommodating 40 people each. At capacity, more than 1,100 people at a time would see broad panoramas of marquee-lit resorts during a 30-minute revolution.
Mr Codiga said Caesars had already received interest from people wanting to combine the traditional 'Vegas wedding' with the new wheel experience.
Lofty plans: Construction of the 682ft Beijing Great Wheel, left, and, the 574ft Great Berlin Wheel, right, was due to finish in 2008 - but the Chinese project went into receivership, and the Berlin project has been postponed Jason Krolicki, project manager for Arup Engineering, said the structure was designed to exceed area seismic, wind and temperature extremes.
Mr Codiga said a final certificate of operation won't be issued until the wheel is built, tested and commissioned.
Support structures are now about 200 feet high for the rival SkyVue wheel, being built by developer Howard Bulloch and Compass Investments across the Strip from the Mandalay Bay resort, near McCarran International Airport
World's finest: The High Roller plans to take the 'world's tallest' crown from current record holder the Singapore Flyer. The Star Of Nanchung and London Eye will drop down to third and fourth respectively.It is part of a $100 million privately funded development expected to include 50,000-square-foot LED screens and convention space capable of hosting concerts, sporting events and product launches.
In Vegas, there is little chance that any project is likely to run out of money. But any 'big wheel' project should learn from the Beijing Great Wheel and Great Berlin Wheel developments - both of which ran into difficulties and may now never be completed.
Beijing's project was supposed to be completed in 2008 but went into receivership in 2010. The Berlin project was similarly supposed to be completed in 2008 but has been put on hold.
source : dailymail
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