Fontainebleau Las Vegas Owners Say Longstanding Strip Eyesore Will Open in 2023

Fontainebleau Las Vegas Owners Say Longstanding Strip Eyesore Will Open in 2023

The new owners of Fontainebleau Las Vegas committed yesterday to bringing the Strip’s notorious 67-story idled eyesore to completion in two years.

Fontainebleau Development and Koch Real Estate 바카라사이트Investments, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, acquired the unfinished casino resort from New York real estate businessman Steve Witkoff in February for an undisclosed sum. Fontainebleau Development is controlled by Jeff Soffer, the same man who originally conceived the Las Vegas Strip casino project.

Yesterday, the owners held a ceremonial event commemorating the resort’s restart of construction. The towering blue structure has largely sat vacant and lifeless since 2009.

The latest plan is to complete construction and open the property as Fontainebleau Las Vegas by the end of 2023. The property is set to include 3,700 guestrooms, 100,000 square feet of gaming space, and employ some 6,000 permanent workers upon completion.

Development Comes Full Circle

The Fontainebleau filed for bankruptcy protection in June of 2009 in the midst of the Great Recession. Work stopped after the multibillion-dollar venture was roughly 75 percent complete.

Soffer, whose Fontainebleau Development was the visionary behind the northern Strip destination, was forced to sell the unfinished casino. Corporate raider billionaire Carl Icahn was the high bidder at roughly $151 million.

Icahn never planned to complete the resort, instead opting to hold on to the structure as an investment. It paid off, as the billionaire eventually sold the property in 2017 to Witkoff for $600 million.

Witkoff had hopes of completing construction and opening the venue as The Drew, an ode to his late son Drew, who died of an opioid overdose in 2011. But Witkoff encountered financing problems, as the COVID-19 pandemic rendered the opportunity unfeasible.

Soffer said he hadn’t considered a return to the development until it landed on his desk. He found it to be an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up.

When I drove on the property the first time, it was exactly the way I left it,” Soffer explained during yesterday’s press event.

“This is a market that’s going to be here forever. It’s not going anywhere,” the resort developer added. “People want to come to Vegas. They want to go to these hotels. They want to go to the conventions. They want to go gamble. They want to see the best shows in the world. It’s got all the pieces that you want when you own hotels.”

Strip Sights

The Las Vegas community is ecstatic that the blue eyesore is being given yet another chance.

Without badmouthing it, it’s been a tremendous eyesore,” said Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom, who represents the Fontainebleau’s district.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) was on hand for the Fontainebleau restart, and he, too, celebrated the expected completion of the property.

“I remember when I was on the county commission, we talked about wrapping this building so it didn’t look as bad,” the governor divulged. “This group that they’ve assembled certainly have the financial wherewithal to finish it. I’m confident that they’re going to do that.”

Poker Player Accused of Hiding COVID-19 from Opponents in WSOP Spat

Following the pandemic-driven virtual tournaments and “hybrid” Main Event of last year, the World Series of Poker is now in full swing at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Well, it’s trying.

The Series is adjusting to life in a mid-pandemic world.온라인카지노 That’s no easy feat for an event that involves packing thousands of people together in one, albeit very large, room to pass cards and chips back and forth.

Disturbingly, after touching those chips, some of these players also touch their mouths or their noses. They can’t help it. It’s involuntary. It’s called a tell.

It’s little surprise, then, that some of this nervousness should spill out into the Twittersphere, where three-time bracelet winner Justin Bonomo has accused a fellow high-stakes pro of breaching health and safety rules.

Pro Bonomo

Bonomo did not name the player he claimed had exhibited COVID-19 symptoms while playing at the same table as him for two days. But he was motivated to complain after learning the same player “tested positive for COVID immediately after the tournament.”

Players negotiating the new WSOP landscape are understandably a little jumpy, especially about the guy in seat 3 who is wheezing and sneezing. Proof of vaccination is a requirement for participants this year. But masks are not, at least while players are seated, although face coverings do have obvious advantages at the poker table.

Back in the Twittersphere, poker fans didn’t have to wait long to find out who Bonomo was talking about. That’s because the accused player, Chris “Big Huni” Hunichen, outed himself.

Justin is talking about me here!” chirped Hunichen. “First, this is very dramatic and overblown. I didn’t know I had Covid until after the 50k [event]. After playing, I hung out with 7-8 of my best friends, as well as my wife and cousin. I smoked hookah, blunts, joints, etc, with everyone.”

“Every single of one of my friends/wife/kids/cousin tested negative the next couple of days. I bought 40 rapid tests, and everyone tested constantly. If just one of them had tested positive, then I understand the point here. But if all of them are negative, there is no way anybody from the 50k was infected by me.

“I also was very f****d up from COVID and was focused on staying alive and out of the hospital. In hindsight, I probably should’ve said something,” he added.

Big Huni’s Big Bet

Hunichen caused immediate controversy in April 2020. He offered to bet his Twitter followers that more than 100,000 people would die from COVID-19 in the US by the following September.

He comfortably won the $10,000 bet he said he hoped he would lose. Hunichen told The LA Times at the time he was asthmatic, with a weak respiratory system, and was particularly vulnerable to the disease. It probably also means he should be careful about ” hookah, blunts, joints, etc.”

Hunichen said he just wanted to raise awareness about COVID-19 among people he felt were not taking it seriously enough.

The US reached 100,000 deaths in late May 2020. To date, there have been more than 777,000.

Thankfully, Hunichen has recovered from his nasty bout of COVID-19 and did not become a statistic in his own twisted bet.

Genting Singapore Doesn’t Expect Immediate Changes as Borders Reopen

Genting Singapore has stated that it does not expect Singapore’s opening of its borders to visitors from select countries to boost Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) anytime soon.

Those comments were part of RWS’s 3Q21 results announcement, which was made Tuesday. Revenue at RWS fell 16% year-on-year and 9% quarter–on–quarter to SG$251.5 million (US $186.8 million). Gaming revenue at the integrated resort (IR) dropped 14%, compared to the June quarter, to SG$194.7 million (US $144.6 million).

Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) fell 31% to $76.1 million. That drop was due to enhanced safety management measures to reduce the recent rise in COVID-19 cases.

New International Travel Gives Singapore a Boost

Singapore made its first major move towards reopening its international borders this month with the launch of a Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTL) program.

This allows fully vaccinated travelers from 12 countries to visit, including those from the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and Brunei. Previously, it had been expected that international travel would resume at a more normal pace this past September. But ongoing issues with COVID-19 forced the time line to change.

Genting Singapore stated Tuesday that it was “encouraged” by the VTL and referred to it as a “significant milestone” for the reopening of the country’s borders.

The company added that there would be a slight increase in foreign visitors to the IR, as countries are eligible for quarantine-free travel from non-traditional sources markets. However, the IR may experience an increase in the number of visitors due to a stream of local people leaving for those countries because of the increased demand for international travel.

The lifting of travel restrictions in Singapore is helping Genting Singapore return to normal, with additional restrictions expected to be removed by the end of this month.

The announcement didn’t mention this week’s news about카지노사이트 flights between Singapore and Malaysia, which will resume on November 29. But industry experts told Inside Asian Gaming (IAG) that Singapore’s IRs would benefit more if land borders with Malaysia reopened. That is where most mass-market customers arrive. Malaysian customers make up around 25% of Singapore’s mass gross gaming revenue.

Missed Opportunities Won’t Keep Genting Down

Q3 non-gaming revenue saw a strong increase of 12%, compared to the prior quarter’s $37.4 million. This reflects positive growth for the company, coming at a time when it seemed like it had lost a major opportunity. Genting had been involved in what was expected to be a strong candidacy to bring an IR to Yokohama, Japan.

The company was repeatedly seen as a formidable competitor, with great odds of winning the race. However, everything came to an abrupt, but not unforeseeable, halt, as the finish line was approaching. In August, Yokohama elected a new mayor, Dr. Takeharu Yamanaka, and his staunch anti-casino position brought the city’s efforts to a close.

If that was expected to bring the company down, it didn’t happen. Genting continued to receive support from industry analysts, who were predicting a fast recovery in Singapore and Malaysia, and the casino operator has been able to find solid ground.

Genting Berhad, Genting Singapore’s parent company, is behind other Resorts World IRs, including the newly-inaugurated Resorts World Las Vegas. That property has boosted Genting’s overall performance and helped it reduce, by US $209.8 million, the losses that were partly fueled by COVID-19.