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Fontainebleau Las Vegas

Casinos in the Las Vegas ValleyCompanies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2009Emporis template using building IDLas Vegas StripResorts in the Las Vegas Valley
Skyscraper hotels in Winchester, NevadaUnfinished buildings and structures in the United States
Fontainebleau Las Vegas October 2021
Fontainebleau Las Vegas October 2021

The Fontainebleau Las Vegas (formerly The Drew Las Vegas) is a hotel and casino currently under construction on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is on the 24.5-acre (9.9 ha) site previously occupied by the El Rancho Hotel and Casino and the Algiers Hotel. The project was announced as Fontainebleau Las Vegas in May 2005, with initial plans to begin construction by March 2006, and to have the resort opened by 2008. It was intended to be a sister property to the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel. It would be developed by Fontainebleau Resorts, which was owned by Jeff Soffer. Construction began in February 2007, and the hotel tower was topped off on November 14, 2008. A group of banks had agreed to provide financing, but the group was sued by Fontainebleau in April 2009, after it refused to continue funding the project. Construction was slowed down considerably, and was eventually put on hold in June 2009, when the project went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The project was 70-percent completed, and the opening had been scheduled for October 2009. The project, upon completion, was to include a 95,000 sq ft (8,800 m2) casino, 2,871 hotel rooms, and 1,018 condo hotel units, among other features. The hotel tower rises 68 stories, standing 737 feet high. It is the tallest building in Las Vegas and in the state, excluding the nearby Strat observation tower. The Fontainebleau was designed by Carlos Zapata Studio with Bergman Walls and Associates as the executive architect. Carl Icahn purchased the project out of bankruptcy in 2010, but he never restarted construction. In August 2017, the unfinished resort was sold to investment firms Witkoff Group and New Valley LLC for $600 million. In February 2018, Witkoff and Marriott International announced a partnership to open the resort as The Drew Las Vegas. Upon completion, the project would include a casino as well as three hotels with 3,780 rooms; plans for condominiums were scrapped. Witkoff Group founder Steve Witkoff named The Drew after his deceased 22-year-old son, Andrew Witkoff, who died of an OxyContin overdose in 2011. The Drew was intended to open in 2022. However, construction stopped in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nevada. In February 2021, Soffer bought back the project through his company Fontainebleau Development, with Koch Real Estate Investments as a partner. Soffer named it back to Fontainebleau Las Vegas and intends to open it in late 2023.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Fontainebleau Las Vegas (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Fontainebleau Las Vegas
South Las Vegas Boulevard,

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Wikipedia: Fontainebleau Las VegasContinue reading on Wikipedia

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Latitude Longitude
N 36.1375 ° E -115.15888888889 °
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South Las Vegas Boulevard 2777
89169
Nevada, United States
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Fontainebleau Las Vegas October 2021
Fontainebleau Las Vegas October 2021
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El Rancho Hotel and Casino

The El Rancho Hotel and Casino (formerly known as the Thunderbird and Silver Bird) was a hotel and casino that operated on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It originally opened on September 2, 1948, as the Navajo-themed Thunderbird. The Thunderbird was owned by building developer Marion Hicks and Lieutenant Governor of Nevada Clifford A. Jones. A sister property, the Algiers Hotel, was opened in 1953. During the mid-1950s, the state carried out an investigation to determine whether underworld Mafia figures held hidden interests in the resort. Hicks and Jones ultimately prevailed and kept their gaming licenses. Hicks died in 1961, and his position as managing director was taken over by Joe Wells, another partner in the resort. Wells added a horse racing track known as Thunderbird Downs, located behind the resort. The Thunderbird also hosted numerous entertainers and shows, including Flower Drum Song and South Pacific. Business at the resort declined as ownership changed several times. In 1965, Wells and Jones sold the Thunderbird to Del E. Webb Corporation, which later sold it to Caesars World in 1972. Caesars World planned to demolish the Thunderbird and construct a $150 million resort in its place, but the project was canceled because of a lack of financing. The Thunderbird was sold to Tiger Investment Company, which leased it to Major Riddle starting in 1977. Riddle renovated and expanded the resort, and renamed it as the Silver Bird, hoping to reinvigorate it. After Riddle's death in 1980, the Silver Bird was taken over by his estate. The resort closed on December 3, 1981, after an auction failed to produce a buyer on the lease. Ed Torres subsequently purchased the Silver Bird and reopened it as the El Rancho on August 31, 1982. The resort featured a western theme and was named after the original El Rancho Vegas across the street. Torres added a 13-story hotel tower in 1988. The El Rancho closed on July 6, 1992, unable to compete with newer mega resorts. It sat vacant for the next eight years while two companies made several failed attempts to reopen or replace the resort. A news investigation later found the decrepit buildings to be in violation of health and safety regulations. Turnberry Associates purchased the El Rancho and its 20 acres in May 2000. The company had been developing the Turnberry Place high-rise condominiums on 15 acres located behind the El Rancho. The closed resort was considered an eyesore for the new project, so Turnberry Associates had it demolished. The El Rancho's last remaining building, the 13-story hotel tower, was imploded on October 3, 2000. The former property of the El Rancho and Algiers later became the site of the Fontainebleau Las Vegas resort, which began construction in 2007 and is scheduled to open in 2023, after delays.

El Rancho Vegas
El Rancho Vegas

El Rancho Vegas was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip, built in what would later become Winchester, Nevada. The El Rancho Vegas was the first full service resort to be built on the Las Vegas Strip, at the southwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue. In 1941, The Las vegas Strip was then known as Highway 91, and Sahara Avenue was then called San Francisco Avenue. The El Rancho Vegas was conceived by Thomas Hull, who owned several hotels in California and wanted to expand his operations to Las Vegas. Hull decided to build his new resort along US Highway 91, on desert land located just outside of city limits. Hull intended to target motorists traveling from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, although his remote location was met with skepticism. The El Rancho Vegas was designed by Wayne McAllister, and originally included 65 rooms, located in cottage bungalows spread across the hotel's property. The El Rancho opened on April 3, 1941, with an Old West theme. The resort proved to be a success, which prompted the opening of other resorts on Highway 91, eventually transforming it into the Las Vegas Strip. The El Rancho underwent several ownership changes, and was leased in 1948 to a group that included Jake Katleman. When he died in 1950, his nephew, Beldon Katleman, took over El Rancho Vegas ownership. The El Rancho added an all-you-can-eat buffet in the 1940s, popularizing the buffet concept in Las Vegas. The El Rancho property was also home to the KENO radio station in the 1940s, and the KSHO-TV television station in the 1950s. On June 17, 1960, a fire destroyed the El Rancho's main building, which housed the casino, restaurants, and showroom. The cause of the fire was never determined. The El Rancho closed as a result of the incident, although the cottages were left unharmed, leaving 222 rooms intact. In the early 1960s, the Thunderbird resort, located across the street, leased 88 of the El Rancho's rooms and operated them under the name Thunderbird West. The cottages were then leased in 1964 to another company, which rebranded them as El Rancho Vegas Motor Inn. The El Rancho struggled as a non-gaming motel, and Katleman put the property up for sale in the late 1960s, eventually selling it to Howard Hughes in 1970. Most of the remaining buildings were demolished by the end of the decade, although some were relocated to Old Vegas, an amusement park near Henderson, Nevada. Another El Rancho cottage was moved to Pahrump, Nevada. The original property sat vacant for several decades after the Hughes purchase, eventually becoming one of the last large, undeveloped parcels on the Las Vegas Strip. Numerous projects were proposed for the land, but did not materialize. A timeshare resort, the Hilton Grand Vacations Club, eventually opened on the southern edge of the old El Rancho property in 2004. MGM Mirage purchased the remaining acreage in 2007, and eventually opened its Festival Grounds on the property in 2015. The Thunderbird was eventually renamed as the El Rancho Hotel and Casino in 1982, after the original El Rancho resort.

Majestic Las Vegas

Majestic Las Vegas is a cancelled high-rise condominium project that was to be built on property previously occupied by the La Concha Motel on the Las Vegas Strip, in Winchester, Nevada. The project was announced by La Concha owner Lorenzo Doumani in February 2004. The 42-story condominium tower was to be accompanied by Hilton's Conrad Las Vegas, a Conrad-branded, 37-story hotel that would operate in a separate high-rise building on the same property. The project was initially expected to open in February 2006. In 2005, the project was redesigned to combine the Majestic and the Conrad into a single tower. Later that year, a new two-tower design was announced as a result of rising construction costs, which made the previous one-tower design financially impossible. In 2006, it was announced that the project would again consist of a single tower, with the top 10 floors to be occupied by The Waldorf-Astoria Residences. In 2007, Majestic Resorts filed a request for arbitration against Hilton after the company pulled out of the project. The undeveloped property was sold that year for $180 million. In 2019, Doumani received county approval to build a new version of Majestic Las Vegas on the former site of the nearby Clarion Hotel and Casino, which he had imploded four years earlier. This version of Majestic Las Vegas would be a 45-story, non-gaming hotel with 720 rooms. The project would cost $850 million and stand 620 feet, and would be located near the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Las Vegas Strip. Groundbreaking is scheduled for early 2022, with completion expected in late 2024.