Chandra Allison spent more than two decades filling the nearly 2.3 million-square-foot Sands (now Venetian) Convention and Expo Center with large trade shows, conferences, meetings and other special events.

Her new role in overseeing the convention and meetings facility for the planned $3 billion Oak View Las Vegas project will be at a smaller scale than the Venetian Expo, considered the 10th largest convention complex in the United States.

“It's definitely going to target the high-end luxury customer looking for quality over quantity,” Allison said last week after being named senior vice president of the project, which is being developed on 25 acres at Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road by Los Angeles-based Oak View Group.

“When you look at the entire venue, it's going to provide a pretty cool, exclusive and unique experience,” Allison said, adding that traditional meeting spaces will be blended with non-traditional venues at the property “that is going to be inspirational for meeting and convention customers.”

For now, the ideas are all on paper, as the project remains in the development phase.

Oak View, headed by veteran sports and entertainment venue developer Tim Leiweke, announced plans this year for a 2,000-room hotel, casino and entertainment district that will include a 20,000-seat sports arena designed for a potential future NBA team.

In June, former Las Vegas Raiders President Marc Badain was named president of the project’s arena, and longtime Strip resort executive Randy Morton was named president of the hotel-casino.

Allison also comes with Las Vegas and gaming industry bonafides.

Morton, in a statement, said, “Very few individuals possess Chandra’s degree of skill and wisdom in Las Vegas and beyond within the meetings and conventions, exhibitions, hotel, leisure and hospitality space.”

Las Vegas Sands sold the Venetian, Palazzo and Venetian Expo in February to VICI Properties and Apollo Global Management for $6.25 billion. Allison remained in her position until May, opting to leave and take a “long summer vacation” before deciding on her next role.

Brendan Bussmann, managing partner of Las Vegas-based gaming advisory firm B2 Global, said Allison was one of the “cornerstones” in the Venetian’s meetings and convention operations. He called her departure a “big loss” for Apollo.

“It’s more of a seismic shift to Oak View as it shows that they are here to compete in the space,” Bussmann said. “Chandra has always been one of the best in the business and will be a key asset to Oak View, not just in Las Vegas but elsewhere through their venues. She is a huge addition to Oak View’s leadership and brain trust.”

In Oak View, Allison joins a company that oversees operations of Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle and UBS Center in Belmont Park, New York, and has several convention facilities around the U.S.

While the Las Vegas project is under development, Allison said she will help the company “with their growth on the meetings, conventions and exhibition side and create a national platform.”

At the same time, Allison also has fleshed-out ideas about what the Oak View convention space should look like and how it would appeal to the luxury group customer, “that I feel is somewhat underserved in Las Vegas.”

Allison credited Wynn Resorts with attracting the high-end convention and meetings market, but Wynn Las Vegas and Encore combined have more than 4,700 rooms. She came out of the Venetian and Palazzo, which has 7,000 rooms.

Oak View’s 2,000 rooms offer a more boutique setting, she said.

“We’re going to be a campus that is going to target that customer looking for a really cool and exclusive experience,” Allison said.

Prior to the pandemic, Las Vegas attracted more than 6.6 million convention delegates in 2019, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The figure has slowly come back with the LVCVA reporting almost 3.2 million convention visitors through August, 32 percent below the same eight months of 2019.

“We know the midweek meeting customer drives the revenues for rooms, food and beverage and all the ancillaries,” Allison said. “If we learned anything during the pandemic, (it) is that people don't want to sit behind computers. They want to engage and they want to meet and interact in person. I don't anticipate that being any different as we look into the future.”