Another Vegas Megaproject Folds
Word came down this week that the Crown Las Vegas project was kaput. It was supposed to be built on the former Wet & wild land next to the Sahara at the north end of the strip. Citing a soft financial market, the owners scrapped the 5 billion dollar project and have put the land up for sale.
They had planned to have the tallest tower in the US, but the FAA said that their plans would have interfered with the flightpaths at McCarran airport. At first they wanted to build a tower that was 1888 feet! In comparison the Stratosphere tower is 1,149 feet high. They did redesign their tower to be 1,064 feet which was approved by the FAA.
The head of the company behind the project is James Packer, son of the late Australian billionare and Vegas gambling legend Kerry Packer, who in his time was one of the biggest whales that Las vegas has ever seen. He had won and lost literally millions over the years.
The company though is going full speed on it’s other project, the Fountanbleau, which is right next door. And yes it’s named after the famous Fountanbleau in Miami in case you were wondering!
There’s been countless mega projects here that have been proposed and weren’t ever started and this is just another. I’m sure it won’t be the last. As the strip gets more saturated there’s gonna less big projects in my opinion in the coming years. Between the CityCenter, Echelon Place, Encore, and the Fountainbleau that’s 4 huge projects currently underway and that’s a lot of rooms, restaurants, retail shops and entertainment coming up to open in the next 18-24 months. We’ll just have to see what kind of impact those projects will make and we’ll take it from there! Just as always, never a dull moment in Las Vegas!
Filed under: Real Estate, Vegas
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