Electric Playhouse is going to Vegas.
The Albuquerque immersive art company plans to open its first expansion location in Las Vegas, Nevada, this summer. The new, more than 10,000-square-foot Electric Playhouse venue will be in The Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace, a multi-level mall located on the city's famous Las Vegas Strip.
It's the first physical expansion for the Albuquerque company, which was founded in 2018.
Brandon Garrett, co-founder and CEO of Electric Playhouse, told Albuquerque Business First that the company plans to start construction "in a few weeks" and that it's targeting July for an official opening.
"We're on the third level [at The Forum Shops], and we have an outdoor deck that overlooks the Strip," Garrett said. "We're going to be able to have these amazing venue opportunities where guests can come in and play and get incredible views of the Strip.
"We're already talking about plans for the big Formula 1 event out there and creating a fully-branded experience for a company to buy that out," he continued. "So, it's insane. Once you see it it's so cool."
The new location will embody Electric Playhouse's "find your play" slogan, Garrett said. The company's plans for the Las Vegas venue include fine dining options and a full kitchen and bar, a range of different interactive and immersive games and customizable venue rentals for private events.
Garrett said he wants the location to cater to different audiences, from families visiting on vacation to adults looking for a unique nighttime experience.
"The playhouse on any given day is going to be several different things," Garrett said. "You get it all in one package, basically."
It'll all cost around $4.7 million to build out. Operational and start-up costs could bring that total to around $5 million, Garrett said. He said the company is continuing to raise money to put toward those expenses.
Electric Playhouse is working with Boston-based Shawmut Design and Construction as the project's general contractors and is collaborating with Las Vegas-based Creative Design Architecture for the new venue's design.
Once complete, Garrett said he expects about 30 employees to run the Las Vegas location in a range of positions, from servers to cooks to game coordinators. When asked, he declined to provide specifics on wages and simply said they would be "competitive wages." The company also plans to hire a general manager, event sales manager and head chef.
Garrett said Electric Playhouse may grow its corporate team in Albuquerque, as a result of the Vegas expansion.
Ticket sales and private event bookings could open as soon as March, Garrett said, and a website for the new location will be live in the coming days.
"This is just a big monumental step forward for the company," Garrett said. "It's a new [Electric Playhouse], an improved [Electric Playhouse] and we're just excited to crank out these experiences for everyone to enjoy."
