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Will Carl Icahn Rescue The Fontainebleau?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —


I've been following the fate of the Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino resort for a while now. It looks like the stalled project may have a new savior in the form of billionaire investor Carl Icahn. Icahn's Icahn Nevada Gaming LLC will be the opening or 'stalking horse' bidder in an auction of the resort after Penn National Gaming Inc. dropped out. Bloomberg News reports on the bidding war in court which led to Icahn offering $105 million, plus $51.5 million in debtor-in-possession financing besting Penn's offer of a total of $145 million. This means that the Icahn bid will be the one to beat.

The planned complex on the Las Vegas Strip is about 70 percent complete. It filed for bankruptcy in June and may cost around $1.5 billion to finish. Fontainebleau's sellers have asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge A. Jay Cristol in Miami to auction the casino on January 21. Penn National Gaming had planned to finish Fontainebleau with an unidentified partner and to use the company's database of casino customers to help fill the casino with consumers. Icahn has a history of buying bankrupt casinos (including the Stratosphere in Las Vegas) and selling them for big profits. His entry into the fray may increase interest in the January auction and help ensure that someone eventually buys the casino and finishes the project.

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Tags: carl icahn, CarlIcahn, casino, fontainebleau, las vegas, las vegas strip, LasVegas, LasVegasStrip

Will Construction Resume On The Fontainebleau?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments


In June the Fontainebleau project in Las Vegas filed for Chapter 11 but now the huge $3 billion property could end up being finished by its lenders. Previously the lenders had balked on continued spending and ended up freezing construction leaving the project in a state of undone stasis. Barbara E. Hernandez of BNET explains that any potential new owner would have to spend an additional $1.5 billion just to finish the 3,815-room resort. That's a number that is likely to scare off most investors. Instead of heading to a foreclosure auction where no one would make money, the lenders and owners are now working together to get the resort finished so it has a potential to make money someday (and stops being an unfinished eyesore along the Strip). Hernandez points out that there is a Finish Fontainebleau Las Vegas Facebook group which has over 400 fans. Depending on when the project is done it could capitalize on the resurgence of tourism to Las Vegas which is predicted to happen in the next year or so.

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Tags: fontainebleau, las vegas, LasVegas

Fontainebleau Las Vegas Goes Chapter 11

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Real Estate Developments


More trouble on the Las Vegas Strip. The Fontainebleau Las Vegas, a $3 billion resort under construction on the Strip has filed for bankruptcy-court protection. The resort has sued a group of lenders who reportedly backed out of an $800 million loan that was necessary to complete the project. Fontainebleau Las Vegas has said that is is filing a $3 billion lawsuit against its lenders for breaking their commitment to the project.

In related news, Crown Ltd., Australia's largest casino owner wrote down the value of its 19.6 percent equity stake in Fontainebleau Resorts LLC to zero. The carrying value of $22 million of debt in Fontainebleau is also expected to be written down to nothing and Crown doesn't plan to contribute anything else to the project.

The resort owners have said that they are still pursuing alternate financing to finish the project. For now though, construction has slowed to a crawl. The Fontainebleau would offer nearly 4,000 rooms in the area where the El Rancho and Algiers casinos were once located. it includes a casino, spa, performing arts theater, condo-hotel units, retail space, conference space and nightclubs, lounges, restaurants and even a chocolate factory. It was expected to open later this year. An animated rendering of the project is after the jump.

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Tags: chapter 11, Chapter11, fontainebleau, las vegas, LasVegas

Continue reading “Fontainebleau Las Vegas Goes Chapter 11”

Will Gambling Come To Miami Beach?

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Journeys


The Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel is currently finishing up a $500 million renovation but could there be plans for a casino in the venerable Florida hotel? The Miami Herald reports on a recent push to have the Florida constitution amended to allow gambling at the proposed Miami Worldcenter and any hotel in Miami Beach with more than 800 rooms, a restriction that includes only the Fontainebleau. It's a natural leap considering that a Fontainebleau casino in Las Vegas is already under construction.

The new Fontainebleau in Miami Beach is set to open next month and follows the inclusive hotel paradigm of Las Vegas Strip hotels with 11 restaurants and bars, ample meeting space, 1,500 guest rooms, and a 40,000-square-foot spa. The developers have said that their plains for the Miami Beach hotel did not include casinos. The push for gambling in Miami comes from Miami developer who wants to put a casino in a commercial complex planned for the downtown area. But many feel that the Fontainebleau is the natural place for a casino in Miami Beach, it has the size and prestige to embrace gambling in a way that would add to the resort. And it could also bring a much needed infusion of cash to the South Florida resort economy.

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Tags: casino, fontainebleau, gambling, miami beach, MiamiBeach



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