LAS VEGAS â?? The Palazzo Hotel and Casino boasts many features of Las Vegas excess â?? an indoor waterfall, a smoke-filled gaming area, seven decorative fountains, and guest suites with three TVs and power-controlled curtains.
Yet the 50-story complex achieved an unlikely and lucrative milestone after opening in 2008. A powerful private organization declared it an environmentally friendly “green” building, the world’s largest at the time.
The designation won its owner, Las Vegas Sands Corp., a $27 million tax break over 10 years because a Nevada law puts the private interest group â?? not the government â?? in charge of deciding which buildings are green enough for a taxpayer subsidy.
The U.S. Green Building Council, a building industry non-profit, credited the Palazzo for