By Corina Vanek | Phoenix Business Journal
After announcing plans in January to create a series of Atari-themed hotels around the United States, Napoleon Smith III and his business partners got inundated with interest from businesses, cities and other groups looking to get in on the idea.
“We had a huge surge of companies wanting to work with us,” Smith, managing partner of Scottsdale-based GSD Group, said. “This has turned into something much bigger than we originally expected, with how well-received it was. We didn’t know how much demand there was for e-sports.”
While the hotels have been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, GSD Group, which also includes Shelly Murphy and Jordan Taylor, has moved forward with hiring Gensler as the architect for the hotels and is focusing its attention first on the Las Vegas location, which Smith called “the mothership.” That hotel will also have e-sports gambling, which is legal in Nevada.
The hotels in Phoenix and Las Vegas will be the first to open, Smith said. Other Atari hotels are planned at a later date in Austin, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle.
Read More (subscriber content)