Good news:A long-mothballed, unfinished hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip has been sold for $600 million.
New York-based Witkoff and New Valley LLC, owned by Miami-based Vector Group, announced they bought the resort and casino property at 2755 Las Vegas Boulevard South from Carl Icahn’s Icahn Enterprises.
CEO Steve Witkoff says the company wants to “unlock” the property’s growth potential, though he didn’t say exactly what the company plans to do with the property.
Icahn had acquired the failed project for $150 million, after the Fontainebleau Las Vegas filed for bankruptcy protection in 2009 during construction. Aventura-based Turnberry Associates’ Jeffrey Soffer, who spearheaded the hotel development, had blamed the bankruptcy on Lehman Brothers’ collapse and the banking industry’s woes, which led creditors to stop funding construction.
In South Florida, a partnership led by Witkoff is also in contract to buy the Weston Town Center for about $90 million, with plans to transform the retail complex into a mixed-use retail destination with a potential hotel component.
