Enjoy Yourself: Dial M for Magnificent

After passing through the glitzy façades, it’s difficult to distinguish one Las Vegas casino/resort from the next. They seemingly feature the same banks of droning slot machines and vested table-game dealers, the same multi-color carpet and a similar mix of restaurants and bars.

Tony Marnell and his company, Marnell Corrao Assoc., who previously built and owned the Rio casino/resort, opened the M Resort in March 1 on the far south end of Las Vegas Blvd., he sought to create a distinctive destination. The M offers a dignified persona that features travertine tile floors throughout the foyer, a 20,000-sq.-ft. spa and salon, and the 100,000-sq.-ft. Villaggio del Sole pool and plaza area. Marnell’s son, Anthony A. Marnell III, serves as the M’s owner/operator.

He brought similar exacting standards when he hired Las Vegas-based Vision Sign to design and build its exterior-sign program, according to Rob Crosbie, Vision’s account and project manager. He said, “A lot of times, casino owners delegate their decisions to their management teams, but Mr. Marnell was very involved in the process and very decisive about the aesthetic he wanted for his casino.”

Naturally, a prominent LED message board provides the M’s initial curb appeal. The 50 x 80-ft. message center features a 24 x 40-ft. display that comprises back-to-back Daktronics Inc. (Brookings, SD) LED boards. According to Daktronics project manager Keri Weinacht, Vision and Marnell’s management company, Marnell Corrao Assoc., debated between the 16- and 20-mm pixel pitch boards. Thus, Daktronics sent a sample for a side-by-side test.

“The HD-16 board offers a newer technology and a very crisp color contrast,” she said.

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To encase the board, Vision built a tower that features 6-in.-tall mullions that encompass the sign. Crosbie said Marnell Corrao specified mullions as a prominent architectural feature. Within the message board tower’s perimeter, Vision installed neon cove lighting that emits dramatic illumination, as well as neon frontlighting for the logo. Toward the display’s bottom, it features a track-letter display board reminiscent of old-school Las Vegas marquees.

On the M’s 390-ft.-tall tower, Vision installed 44-ft.-tall channel letters that convey the M’s simple, but stately, logo. Within the letters, they installed Daktronics’ ProPixel® freeform video pucks, which create programmable, LED displays. Vision also fabricated the property’s 17 monument signs, which feature the logo and framed, inkjet-printed, flex-face graphics that promote the casino’s myriad events and amenities.

Vision contributed to the resort’s interior ambience by fabricating the M’s directional panels with edgelit neon and acrylic faces with gold 3M Graphics Market Center Controltac vinyl. The shop also fabricated a neon-lit acrylic wall display that serves as interior signage for the M’s Studio B buffet.

Vision even handled fabrication for a non-sign application. Within the casino, Marnell speced columns outfitted with imported, sculpted-acrylic encasements. Initially, he had the columns internally illuminated with white, LED modules. However, after observing their efficacy in situ, Marnell changed course and ordered neon.

“It will be costly. to retrofit these columns with neon,” Crosbie said. “But, Mr. Marnell has set a very high standard for his property, and he wants everything to convey the appropriate image. We installed a grand total of 20,000 linear ft. of neon cove lighting, which required as much labor as the signage.”