{"id":8569,"date":"2015-01-23T19:07:27","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T19:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2015\/01\/23\/las-vegas-mystery-what-will-become-of-fontainebleau\/"},"modified":"2015-01-23T19:07:27","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T19:07:27","slug":"las-vegas-mystery-what-will-become-of-fontainebleau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2015\/01\/23\/las-vegas-mystery-what-will-become-of-fontainebleau\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Vegas mystery: What will become of Fontainebleau?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"\"
\n\tA view of the stalled Fontainebleau resort, left, on Las Vegas Boulevard South Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2015. Fontainebleau Las Vegas filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2009. Carl Icahn assumed part-ownership of the project in 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n

\tBy J.D. Morris <\/p>\n

\tWhen viewed from afar in the light of day, the second-tallest structure in the Las Vegas area looks like many of the other resorts on the Strip.<\/p>\n

\tBut at night, the Fontainebleau reveals itself for what it really is: a monolithic, largely abandoned black hole on the otherwise brilliantly lit skyline. It\u2019s been a ghost of a building for years now, and no one seems to know when work will resume to finish the structure \u2014 or if it ever will.<\/p>\n

\tA view of the stalled Fontainebleau resort on Las Vegas Boulevard South Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2015. Fontainebleau Las Vegas filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2009. Carl Icahn assumed part-ownership of the project in 2010. Launch slideshow \u00bb
\n\tOnce pegged as a roughly $3 billion resort project, the Fontainebleau went bankrupt during the recession in 2009 and construction ground to a halt. Then, exactly five years ago this month, billionaire Carl Icahn received approval to buy the property for $150 million. It\u2019s unclear precisely what it would be worth today, but a larger property nearby \u2014 the land where the former New Frontier was located \u2014 reportedly sold for $280 million last year.<\/p>\n

\tReal estate broker Michael Parks of CBRE said that since purchasing the Fontainebleau out of bankruptcy \u201cat a great price,\u201d Icahn and his colleagues have maintained the property while monitoring the Las Vegas market.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI think they\u2019ve analyzed a number of opportunities, they\u2019ve been approached by a number of people \u2014 I just don\u2019t believe there are any set plans for the asset at this time,\u201d Parks said. \u201cI think it\u2019s kind of a wait-and-see on market conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tPenn National Gaming, a Pennsylvania-based casino company, expressed early interest in the property after its developer filed for bankruptcy in June 2009. But Penn pulled out after Icahn made a bigger bid. A bankruptcy judge in Miami approved Icahn\u2019s winning bid on Jan. 27, 2010 \u2014 five years ago this Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\tIcahn has been tight-lipped about the project over the years, and he couldn\u2019t be reached for comment for this story. However, he did share some of his thinking after winning the bid in 2010.<\/p>\n

\tA view of the Fontainebleau Las Vegas project on the Las Vegas Strip Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2011. In 2009, Fontainebleau Las Vegas filed for bankruptcy after banks halted funding for what had been envisioned as a $2.9 billion, 3,815-room resort. Launch slideshow \u00bb
\n\t"My philosophy has always been to buy things when nobody wants them," Icahn said in an interview with Reuters at the time. "There’s no question Vegas is pretty stormy right now, but if you buy things when nobody wants them, you just buy them and hope the sun will come out."<\/p>\n

\tIcahn also acknowledged that \u201cit will be challenging for a while,\u201d Reuters reported.<\/p>\n

\tConditions on the Strip are much less challenging now than they were when Icahn took over the Fontainebleau site. Gaming revenue and tourism figures have improved since their recession-induced slump. Down the street from the Fontainebleau site, the SLS Las Vegas casino opened last year in the shell of the old Sahara. And in May, a new concert venue across from the SLS will debut in time for the Rock in Rio music festival.<\/p>\n

\tTwo brand-new resorts have been planned for the neighborhood. Parks said they would be a major factor in determining what happens with the Fontainebleau.<\/p>\n

\tConstruction on one of those forthcoming projects, Resorts World Las Vegas, was supposed to start last year on the site of Boyd Gaming\u2019s abandoned Echelon project. Michael Levoff, a spokesman for the Resorts World parent company, said in a statement that they\u2019re working on \u201cfinal refinement of the project design\u201d and the project is \u201con track to break ground early next quarter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe first phase of Resorts World is scheduled to open in 2016.<\/p>\n

\tThe other project came to light last fall, when Australian casino mogul James Packer acquired the former New Frontier property with the intention of building a resort there. Packer is teaming up with former Wynn executive Andrew Pascal on the project, and Rob Oseland left his post as president of the SLS in October to join them, but details about the resort haven\u2019t been publicly announced yet.<\/p>\n

\tAlthough the progress of these resorts certainly indicate a more positive environment for growth on the Strip, whether they can be successful remains to be seen. And for the Fontainebleau, Parks suggested they contribute to another problem: banks hesitant to gamble on a potential glut of big projects.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIf you had banks out there willing to finance multibillion-dollar projects again, multiple multibillion-dollar projects in Las Vegas, I definitely think you\u2019d see some activity on that site sooner rather than later,\u201d Parks said. \u201cBut until you see that capital flowing again, it\u2019s going to be, I think, a little more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tMeanwhile, county officials don\u2019t have many tools to force the project into action. The building is privately owned, and it\u2019s structurally sound \u2014 the ownership has kept it from falling into total disrepair.<\/p>\n

\tCounty Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, whose district includes the Fontainebleau, says county officials regularly inspect the site. She\u2019s been there before to check it out.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt\u2019s in excellent condition,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s absolutely no structural issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tStill, Giunchigliani said she\u2019s gotten some improvements here and there, including the completion of roadwork on Riviera Boulevard after the road was partially closed for construction.<\/p>\n

\tBut Giunchigliani would like more tweaks to be made to the project while it sits there. Namely, she would like to see the Fontainebleau buildings wrapped to cover up some of the exposed building work \u2014 like the unfinished Harmon tower at CityCenter, but without the advertisements.<\/p>\n

\tBeyond that, of course, there\u2019s the question of what will become of the site.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI would just like it to be completed, and if not completed, then imploded and started over,\u201d Giunchigliani said.<\/p>\n

\tParks said he\u2019d be surprised if Icahn knocked the building down, and that the other two obvious outcomes \u2014 finishing it himself or selling it \u2014 are more likely.<\/p>\n

\tIcahn could also take no action.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cHe doesn\u2019t have to do anything with it,\u201d Parks said. \u201cWhen you have a private owner like Carl Icahn, he can just kind of sit there and be patient.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Replies:<\/h3>\n

No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A view of the stalled Fontainebleau resort, left, on Las Vegas Boulevard South Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2015. Fontainebleau Las Vegas filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2009. Carl Icahn assumed part-ownership of the project in 2010. By J.D. Morris When…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8569\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}