There’s a good piece on the far, far south M Resort in the LV Sun. Here’s some of the most interesting bit, but you should read the whole piece:

The M Resort, at the southwest corner of St. Rose Parkway and Las Vegas Boulevard, more than 10 miles south of Mandalay Bay, will be the southernmost casino in the Las Vegas Valley. The 400-room property, which is expected to get most of its customers from nearby neighborhoods, including Southern Highlands, Seven Hills and Anthem, will face stiff competition from nearby locals casinos as well as the Strip.

Unlike newer locals casinos, which get about half of their business from out-of-town visitors, M Resort will get 80 percent of its revenue from locals, said Marnell, who began work on the $700 million project five years ago.

That’s partly why Marnell, who helped open one of the valley’s first major night clubs at the Rio, wants to avoid the night club crowd. Booming, boisterous clubs can be more trouble than they’re worth for management, while turning off locals trying to enjoy a more relaxed night out, he said.

Locals favorites such as a buffet, poker room, deli and a sports book with reclining chairs and about 100 beers on tap, will be near a 2,000-car garage for easy access.

Little of what Marnell calls the resort’s “modern Italian design” is yet visible, though the crescent-shaped glass shell hotel tower was topped off Friday and construction of the giant, zinc-encrusted porte cochere is under way on the side farthest from the Strip.

Many venues at the M Resort will face the Strip, with floor-to-ceiling views overlooking a pool and outdoor amphitheater, which will host concerts that restaurantgoers can see and hear.

It’s on Las Vegas Boulevard, but M Resort aims mostly at locals – Las Vegas Sun.

I’m really looking forward to the “modern Italian design.” It’s funny how in the past few years more and more casinos are borrowing elements of the original Caesars Palace–crescent-shaped towers, “modern” design, and much more.

This sounds like a great project–certainly there’s a huge attention to detail. Even though it’s not going to be marketed to tourists, I would guess that this is going to be a place to check out.

I’m a bit unsure about the self-serve soft drink station–that might be a little too relaxed even by locals standards. Having worked in security, I’m envisioning patrons trying to smuggle in empty 2-liter soda bottles and save themselves a dollar on their home supply of Diet Pepsi. I’ve personally seen patrons smuggling shrimp out of the buffet in their coat pockets, so I wouldn’t put anything past anyone.

The shrimp smuggling thing is a real ethical dilemma. On one hand, it’s not exactly stealing, because if the patron had wolfed it down while inside the buffet, there wouldn’t be a problem. On the other, it IS stealing because you can’t take food out; it’s a real “slippery slope” type thing, because if you let them take a few pieces of shrimp, what’s to stop them, logically, from taking out a whole carving station next time? But you really muddy the waters when you factor in that the smugglers tend to be older people, who in my experience eat less in a single sitting. So by prosecuting seniors who take 2 or 3 extra shrimp for later that a younger person might have had inside, are you opening the company up for an age discrimination lawsuit?

I’d love to see them tackle this kind of case on Law and Order someday.