Time magazine’s list of world’s greatest places names one with Wichita connections
In Time magazine’s annual list of world’s greatest places this year, there’s one with a Wichita connection. Actually, there are two Wichita connections in one place.
The new Fontainebleau Las Vegas resort and casino makes Time’s list as a place to stay.
Koch Real Estate Investments is a partner in the resort, which opened in December.
That also happens to be where Wichita’s Cocoa Dolce opened its fourth store — its only one outside Wichita — thanks to the Koch connection.
Time notes the 67-story tower took almost two decades to create on the north end of the Strip, which is where the new Sphere music venue is as well.
Together, the magazine noted Fontainebleau and the Sphere are “pulling the city’s center of gravity further northward, away from its traditional epicenter.”
“The $3.7 billion dollar hotel, casino, and convention center ups the ante for opulence in Sin City with art installations from the likes of Urs Fischer and Gonzalo Lebrija and an airy columned game floor adorned with a glimmering golden chandelier,” the magazine said.
There are almost 40 restaurants, bars and nightclubs off the atrium, and there’s a spa with “innovative treatments such as snow showers and sonic therapies. Above it, the Oasis pool deck fans out over six acres of outdoor space.”
“Meanwhile, the glitterati are flocking to the Fleur de Lis suites—up to 10,000 sq. ft.—lining the top five floors of the skyscraper.”
Cocoa Dolce doesn’t get a mention in the article, but as Have You Heard? previously reported, the company’s new store is operating on the same luxury level as the rest of the resort. It updated all of its packaging branding, including at its Wichita stores, to a more high-end look.
As Birds Eye Holdings principal Casey Voegeli explained before the new store opened last year, the Birds Eye subsidiary that owns Cocoa Dolce worked with well-known designer Peter Arnell, who has helped a lot of major brands.
“Peter loved our product and kind of took us under his wing and said, ‘Hey, let’s just see if we can do something spectacular,’ ” Voegeli said. “It’s a big opportunity for a Wichita, Kansas-based company to have a connection like that.”
Though Cocoa Dolce didn’t get a mention, Voegeli texted he was happy to see “the resort making this exclusive list” so soon after opening.
“And no,” he joked, “Cocoa Dolce cannot take all the credit.”
