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Tags: Fontainebleau / Hotels / Carl Icahn / Vegas Business / Fontaine-Bust / Hotel Construction / → All Tags

The Fontainebleau Will Live On, Thanks to Carl Icahn

Finally some good news for The Fontainebleau, the half-finished resort next to Encore that has been struggling to find new financing. It turns out billionaire investor Carl Icahn is the winning bidder for the property, which developer Jeffrey Soffer drove into bankruptcy last year.

Yet, don't expect the hotel to open any time soon. The WSJ reports:

Mr. Icahn said in an interview that he hasn't determined whether or not he will slowly gear up to restart construction on the Fontainebleau, or keep it mothballed for some time. People familiar with the project say even that would be costly. They estimate that heating, cooling, security and taxes would run about $1.5 million to $2 million a month on the property Mr. Icahn said he doesn't believe he will be able to raise much financing for construction. His firm could finance the construction itself if it wanted to, he said.

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Tags: Fontainebleau / Hotel Construction / Lawsuits / Fontaine-Bust / → All Tags

What's Taking The Fontainebleau So Long?

The last time this site checked in with the seemingly doomed Fontainebleau Las Vegas, they were filing for bankruptcy protection, and their CEO got the hell out of dodge, suing their former lenders for not staying the course...instead of staying the course. Even worse, the claim in court became even more clear (or convoluted, depending on how you see it): owner Jeffrey Soffer was suing his own project to essentially try to skirt the creditors' liens on his own project. Well, now we've got a new tip, and it appears it's only going to be worse.

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Tags: Golden Nugget / Hotel Rooms / Hotel Construction / Openings / → All Tags

The Golden Nugget's New Rush Tower is Open for Reservations

Yes, even Downtown Las Vegas continues to grow, in the midst of one whopper of a recession. Golden Nugget, one of downtown's most "respectable" casino-hotels, is now taking reservations for its new Rush Tower which will open on November 20, about a month before the new hotels open inside CityCenter.

The Nugget’s new $150 million Rush Towe expansion will add nearly 500 guestrooms ranging from 439 square feet to one-bedroom “Parlor Suites” that clock in at just north of 1,300 square feet. Rooms are all non-smoking and come decked out in the requisite contemporary décor, complete with 42-inch plasma TVs and pillow-top mattresses.

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Tags: CityCenter / Hotel Construction / Condos / → All Tags

Condos at CityCenter Might Be Getting More Affordable

Are you among the lucky few with some discretionary cash still burning a hole in your pocket? Then, according to a Bloomberg News story from over the weekend, you might just have a shot at getting a condo at the posh new CityCenter for a discounted price.

Since the housing market crash seems to have affected Las Vegas as much or more than any other place on the U.S. map, MGM Mirage, the company that owns CityCenter, is reportedly reappraising its condo units inside the Vdara and Veer Towers to accommodate demands of buyers already under contract. Seems these right place, wrong time condo buyers who dreamed of owning a piece of the Strip are having a tough time closing financing deals with their banks due to the sinking value of Vegas real estate.

Even though the Bloomberg story reports negotiations are taking place to appease existing buyers, we extrapolate that any lowered prices will obviously benefit new buyers, too. After all, Bloomberg reports this tidbit:

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Tags: Fontainebleau / Hotel Construction / Lawsuits / → All Tags

The Fontaine-Bust Update: Lawsuit Hearing Could Happen Next Week

The Fontainbleau, June 28, 2009.

There’s not much to tell as far as when or if the embattled Fontainebleau Las Vegas will ever open its doors. After all, in the last month or so, corporate employees have been laid off, its CEO flew the coop and it filed for bankruptcy protection. Call it Fontaine-bust instead.

Next week could bring some good news for the remaining Fontainebleau folks, however. That’s when they’re hoping to get a court date set for their lawsuit against their former lenders. Seems they (the lenders) nixed hundreds of millions of dollars in financing and, essentially, forced Fontainebleau into bankruptcy which pulled the plug on the resort’s progress.

There’s a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo for the lawyers on both sides to toss back and forth in the meantime, and there’s no saying the Florida judge who’s presiding over this kerfuffle will actually set the court date next week or sometime thereafter.

But we certainly have every reason to hope the matter gets resolved in Fontainebleau’s favor. It’s depressing to think that massive, multi-billion-dollar tower is just sitting there, vacant – especially when it stands to be such a showplace when it’s done. We’re keeping our fingers crossed and knocking wood for you, Fontainebleau. Courage.

Tags: CityCenter / Hotel Construction / Aria / Vdara / Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas / The Crystals / → All Tags

Construction Update: MGM's CityCenter at Night

The CityCenter complex is still under construction but lately it's made some serious head way. The Vdara and Aria hotels are nearly finished and their name marquees are all aglow on The Strip. This is definitely promising as these hotels will open in October and December, respectively.

The Mandarin Oriental has risen and its fan logo can be also be seen at the top of the building but it's still got a ways to go. Its opening date is still a vague, "late 2009." Meanwhile, the Crystals luxury retail center, pictured at the front here, looks hardly any different than it did at the start of April. We're guessing luxury retail is just not a priority these days in Las Vegas.

For more daily construction pics, head over to the CityCenter website.

Tags: Hotel Construction / Fontainebleau / Hotel Delays / → All Tags

The Fontainebleau Las Vegas Craps Out

The Fontainbleau Las Vegas looks a little more finished than this. But not much. For a more recent pic, go here.

After much back and forthing, the Fontainebleau Las Vegas has officially crapped out, with its owners filing for bankruptcy yesterday. Aside from depriving Vegas visitors of iMacs in their hotel rooms, the project's collapse will put thousands of people out of work. And it's not even all the way finished yet. According to a news report:

The company said in a news release that the decision to file Chapter 11 was the direct result of litigation with lenders on the Las Vegas hotel construction project that had to do with contractual disputes related to nearly $800 million in construction funding for the $2.9 billion resort-casino project, which is 70 percent complete.

Um...so now what? They can't just let it sit there unfinished, can they? We really hope the owners can secure some new financing soon. Until then, don't plan on making a reservation here next year.

[Photo: Nick Barlow]

Tags: CityCenter / Bellagio / Anti-Views / Hotel Construction / → All Tags

The CityCenter Monorail Ruins The Bellagio View

A tipster sent in some crazy pictures this morning from a high roller who was put up inside a two-bedroom executive suite The Bellagio.

We checked 'em out, expecting to drool over the sweet suite but instead we were affronted by this heinous view of CityCenter construction from the bathroom. The bathroom! Sadly, it turns out the CityCenter monorail will run right by these suites, thus deflating any high roller's notion that he or she's getting "special" treatment.

Check out the gallery below to see what we're talking about.

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Tags: CityCenter / Hotel Construction / News / → All Tags

MGM's CityCenter Will Be Completed By The Fall

Las Vegas just let out another collective sigh of relief at the news that Dubai World and MGM Mirage have officially mended their differences and agreed to terms that will allow CityCenter to be finished as planned.

Last week, we heard that MGM Mirage was scraping together payments on its partner Dubai World’s behalf, because the latter had called foul on the project’s timeline and cost via a decidedly un-partnerlike lawsuit. It was, needless to say, a little touch and go there for a while.

Today’s announcement, reported by the LVRJ, includes both a revised partnership between the two developers and a new agreement with lenders. Dubai World also agreed to pay back the $135 million MGM Mirage paid on its behalf.

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Tags: Hotel Construction / Fontainebleau / Hotel Delays / → All Tags

The Fontainebleau Las Vegas Probably Won't Open in 2009

Just when CityCenter got out of the woods of tough financing, it looks like the The Fontainebleau Las Vegas is the next one to go down. Yesterday the hotel's developers sued a group of major banks for canceling a crucial round of funding.

The lawsuit, which was first reported by the WSJ, deals with a lot of numbers about financing but the bottom line is that the Fontainebleau is going to need a major injection of cash if it wants to open in 2009 or even early 2010.

Additionally, stopping the project will put about 3,300 construction workers out of work as well as prevent nearly 6,000 hotel and casino jobs from being fulfilled. And forget about watching the giant LED-type display on the side of the building or accessing in the in-room iMacs.

However, we're still holding out for a hero here. The Fontainebleau has already lined up some amazing tables from great chefs and has plans for nearly nine bars and clubs, a Lapis Spa and an "avant-garde theatre production." It sounds almost like The Palms but classier. So we really want someone to save it.

[Photo: Nick Barlow]

Tags: Hotel Construction / CityCenter / Future Vegas / → All Tags

Despite Some Hiccups, CityCenter is Moving Forward

So, no one’s going so far as to give a precise opening date for CityCenter these days, but we breathed a sigh of relief Friday when the parent company, MGM Mirage, made its $70 million debt payment. That means, construction continues and worries of bankruptcy are forestalled for now.

More good news is that MGM Mirage and its feuding Dubai business partners remain committed to completing the $8.7 billion project together. When finished, CityCenter will house approximately 6,500 hotel rooms at four resorts designed by architectural and design giants including Pelli Clarke Pelli and Rafael Viñoly: Aria, Vdara, Mandarin Oriental and The Harmon Hotel.

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Tags: Hotel Construction / Hotel Openings / Planet Hollywood / The Strip / → All Tags

Surprise, Surprise: There Are Still Units for Sale at The PH Towers

When the idea to build The PH Towers by Westgate--the "tallest timeshare building in history" adjacent to Vegas’ Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino--came about a few years ago, Las Vegas was in the midst of a serious boomtime. Today? Not so much.

Still, the PH Towers are expected to open this summer and the word on the Strip is that an announcement is expected soon regarding reservation availability for Vegas visitors.

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