Tallest Hotel In Las Vegas Finally Opens After Sitting Empty For More Than A Decade

The 67-story hotel-casino tower Fontainebleau has opened to the public after more than a decade of sitting unfinished following the Recession, making it the tallest occupied building in Nevada.

The tallest hotel in Las Vegas is finally ready to swing open its doors after 10 years of building.

The 67-story hotel-casino tower Fontainebleau had became famous for sitting unfinished on the famous strip for more than a decade. Now it is finally open to the public it is the tallest, newest and bluest hotel in southern Nevada’s glittery resort corridor. At $3.7 billion, it’s second in cost to the $4.3 billion, 66-story Resorts World that opened in June 2021 a short walk down Las Vegas Boulevard.

The name of the 3,644-room Fontainebleau recalls Miami Beach’s icon among destination resorts, which owner Jeffrey Soffer’s family acquired in 2005. But the project in the Mojave Desert has its own lore about starts, stops and changing ownership since work began in 2007.

“Bringing Fontainebleau Las Vegas to life has been an extraordinary journey. Opening a resort of this size and scope is a once-in-a-lifetime experience., said Soffer, who started the project, lost it and reacquired it to finish it.

The Miami-based chairman of Fontainebleau Development lost funding for the project during the Recession, leading him to walk away from the project in 2009. At that point the building was about 70% complete. Other plans were tabled about ten years later to finish the project, but they never came about. Occasionally fire fighters would use the large empty shell of a building for high-rise rescue training.

Now that it is finally done, the hotel will fit into Las Vegas's gambling scene thanks to its 1,300 slot machines, 128 gambling tables and more than 36 bars and restaurants - some featuring chefs with Miami roots. Mark Tricano, Fontainebleau Las Vegas president, has said that the resort will employ more than 7,000 workers.

By Milo Boyd