The all-suite resort will have gaming facilities, a 76,000-square-foot "Skyloop" rooftop and a 15,000-seater arena to attract business travelers and global musical acts, reports CNBC's Monica Pitrelli.

Downtown Core

Las Vegas Sands has started construction on a new $8 billion all-suite resort adjacent to Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands. The development, currently referred to as IR2, will feature approximately 570 suites, gaming facilities, high-end shopping, and a 76,000-square-foot rooftop 'Skyloop' with public observation decks, restaurants, and private villas.

The resort will also include a 15,000-seat arena designed by the firm behind Las Vegas Sphere, aiming to attract global entertainment acts and business events. The project aligns with Singapore’s tourism strategy to draw business and leisure travelers, with completion targeted for 2030 and an opening planned for early 2031. This brings Las Vegas Sands’ total investment in Marina Bay to $15 billion.

See Las Vegas Sands' new $8 billion all-suite resort in Singapore

Singapore skyline is set to change yet again earlier this week. Construction started on an $8 billion expansion of Singapore's Marina Bay Sands integrated resort. CNBC's travel editor Monica Petrelli was at the ceremony and is here to tell us more. Wow. How big is this? It's big. It's big. So if you look at the renderings, which we will have, it's a bit wider than each of the current towers and it's a bit taller. However, it's said to have fewer stories and I think that's because of the rooftop. And let me get into this because first the ceremony this week, a grand affair as you might expect. It was attended by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong from Singapore as well as executive leadership from Las Vegas Sands. Here we saw really though the big occasion though the planning phase that we've long heard about over construction now officially started on this new resort. It is going to be another area for shopping, high end shopping, also gaming facilities. But we're also seeing a big emphasis on this rooftop. Of course, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So we can see another rooftop with a observation deck set to be open to the public. There will be restaurants, but also some private villas that can be rented out on the very top. No word yet on how much those will cost to rent for the evening. Now, the one thing to know about this is though it is not an extension of the current Marina Bay Sands. Those were the words of Robert Goldstein. He is the CEO of Las Vegas Sands. He said this is a new building with its own identity. What that identity is, we don't know. It's currently called I R two. We don't know the name yet, but we can see some differences from the current M. B. S. This resort set to be all suite around 570. That's far fewer rooms than we see at the current MBS. Also, it's got a this is really fun. This about a 15,000 seat arena being planned at the bottom there at the base of Marina Bay. This is being designed by populist, the same firm behind Las Vegas Sphere. Now, this new resort and arena set to finish construction around 2030 with an opening date planned for January of 2031. The total cost, as you mentioned, Martin, $8 billion. But when this resort is finished, this will represent a $15 billion investment in total by Las Vegas Sands into Marina Bay here in Singapore. Yeah, and you were there right when they broke ground on the sands itself, right? This extension I R two, whatever it's gonna be named, right? How different is this gonna be? Yes, I was. I was there at the original M. B. S. A groundbreaking. So that was back in 2010. A big difference from that event to this event, although it was a bit of a deja vu, the absence of one person that was Sheldon Adelson. Of course, he's passed on. His wife, though, was present. Mary Madison. She was in every way talking about him. There was video present, so he was still very much a part of this event. However, of course, not present in person. But a big difference we see is less risk. Everyone seems to be a bit more comfortable. You know, Miriam Addison talking about Singapore. We took a risk on you back in the day. You took a risk on us now. Everyone much more comfortable and ready to proceed. I think they have a winning combination here, which is why we also see they could learn from the past 15 years. This resort set to be ultra luxurious. All suites. We saw M. B. S. Going through a big renovation where they took the number of hotel rooms down from around 2500 rooms to now around 18 50 upped the number of suites so we can see the new resort really tapping into that premium travel and what they've learned people want when they come to see this now iconic building. So how is this all going to align with Singapore sort of tourism development plans? Well, no surprise here. It really kind of perfectly aligned. So Singapore coming out with a strategy 2040 earlier this year, really focusing on business travelers and stopover travelers. Now that business traveler expected to spend around twice a normal traveler. And so we're now we're seeing more meeting space. Singapore giving companies more reason to come to Singapore. Hold your event here. Mice events very big. But leisure travelers still a big emphasis here. Singapore knowing what it's good at says, you know, we're not going to get people to come here because we have cheap alcoholic drinks and beaches all around. What we can do is offer world class entertainment, which is why we're seeing a new arena that will just make Singapore more attractive when you're trying to get these major world acts like we have seen here in the past year.

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