One of Las Vegas’ tallest buildings, a skyscraper with more than 60 stories, is a product of a property frenzy in the mid-2000s but has never opened. It’s a reminder of the economic fallout from the boom, the devastating crash that followed, and more recently, the pandemic.
But in a full-fledged moment, Sofer, Fontainebleau’s original developer, took over the hotel casino project nearly a year ago in partnership with the real estate division of Koch Industries, a Kansas conglomerate.
Construction has resumed, and they aim to open Fontaineblau Las Vegas with more than 3,700 rooms in the fourth quarter of 2023. 슬롯머신
According to the owner, the resort is already 75% complete.
“The good thing about this is that the hard part is over because the structure has come up … Now you’re filling in those parts,” said Soffer, the owner of Fontainebleau Development, a real estate company.
Needless to say, the journey there has been a long one, lasting years of bankruptcy proceedings, suspensions of construction, other owners, and what happens when a partially built high-rise towers tower over Las Vegas Boulevard.
“Ultimately, it ended up in my hands,” Soper said, “It was crazy, but it was crazy.”
“High End of Market”
Sofer, whose portfolio includes the iconic Fontaineblau Miami Beach Hotel, told the Review-Journal at his company’s office in Aventura, Florida, on Dec. 7 that the partners behind the North Strip project are “very well-funded.”
He indicated they weren’t after money, and privately owned Koch, which according to Forbes magazine recorded about $115 billion in sales in 2020, was “probably bigger than all strip companies combined.”
The developers also aim to establish the resort as a high-end destination that competes with places like Win Las Vegas.
“We’re going right after the market hits a high,” said Brett Murfson, president of Fontainebleau Development.
He added that the resort has a “huge competitive advantage” opposite the newly built West Hall by the Las Vegas Convention Center, and the company has already received calls from groups looking to book meetings in Fontainebleau.
Mufson, who also worked on projects under his previous owner Steve Witkoff, doesn’t believe that a developer who wants to build a Fontaineau-sized resort from scratch in Las Vegas these days is “just too expensive to build.”
Sofer did not disclose the estimated price for completing Fontainebleau, but expected the resort to cost more than $6 billion to build from scratch.
“We wouldn’t have bought this place if it was just part of the land,” Soper said.