LAS VEGAS — The newest megaresort on the Las Vegas Strip may not open before New Year's Eve and is focusing instead on a grand opening Jan. 17, a company official said yesterday.

"We are still working with the county on our final inspections and permits," said Ron Reese, spokesman for The Palazzo and its corporate owner, Las Vegas Sands Corp.

Sands executives had planned to open the 50-story resort next to The Venetian by the end of 2007, and the company said during an August earnings report that the date would be Dec. 20. In recent weeks, company officials focused on plans for a "soft" opening this month to let guests begin arriving while staff ironed out last-minute kinks.

A spokesman for the Clark County Building Department in Nevada could not say when an occupancy permit would be issued for the $1.8 billion hotel, 100,000-square-foot casino, restaurants and retail shops.

Reese would not dismiss the possibility that the resort might open before New Year's Eve, when the Las Vegas Strip plans to host up to 300,000 people for a midnight fireworks display.

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