The eighteen-year journey of a Las Vegas skyscraper that refused to stay unfinished.
In short: The Fontainebleau Las Vegas stands 67 stories tall, yet its path to completion was anything but linear. After a 2005 announcement, the project endured bankruptcy, a decade of abandonment, and multiple ownership changes. It finally opened in 2023, transforming from a stalled eyesore into a multi-billion dollar luxury landmark.
The Fontainebleau saga began in May 2005, when developer Jeff Soffer announced plans for a luxury resort on the site of the former El Rancho and Algiers hotels. Construction commenced in 2007, but the project hit a wall during the 2008 financial crisis. By June 2009, with the tower 70-percent complete, the developer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The site became a symbol of the Great Recession, sitting vacant for years while various bidders, including Carl Icahn, cycled through ownership without finishing the structure.
The project saw a second life in 2017 when the Witkoff Group and New Valley LLC purchased it, intending to rebrand it as The Drew Las Vegas. However, the COVID-19 pandemic halted progress again in March 2020. Finally, in February 2021, Soffer repurchased the property through his company, Fontainebleau Development. He reinstated the original name and resumed construction, ultimately spending $3.7 billion to bring the vision to fruition. When it opened on December 13, 2023, it became the second most-expensive resort in Las Vegas, surpassed only by Resorts World.
Today, the resort features a 173,000-square-foot casino and 3,644 hotel rooms. The 737-foot tower holds the title of the tallest occupied building in Nevada. Despite the long delays and complex legal battles—including lawsuits over financing and employee poaching—the property has secured its place on the Strip. In 2024, it was recognized by Time magazine as one of the world's greatest places to visit, marking a definitive end to its turbulent history of stalled construction and financial uncertainty.
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