Former Fontainebleau and Drew Las Vegas project to open Oct. 2023

The unfinished 63-story hotel has been sitting on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip for years after construction stalled that originally began in 2006.

2021-07-22

United States

Reading time 1:36 min

The property, whose construction originally began in 2006, will feature over 3,700 rooms and suites, and more than 500,000 square feet of meeting and convention space. It will include multiple casino, retail, spa, nightlife, pool, and culinary experiences. A pedestrian skybridge will connect it to the newly built section of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Marriott International’s website says the former Fontainebleau and Drew project on the Las Vegas Strip, which it calls the JW Marriott Las Vegas Blvd, will open in October 2023.

The unfinished 63-story hotel has been sitting on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip for years after construction stalled that originally began in 2006. When completed, JW Marriott says the property will feature over 3,700 rooms and suites as well as more than 500,000 square feet of meeting and convention space. The resort is also expected to debut Marriott International’s EDITION brand with multiple retail, spa, nightlife, pool, casino and culinary experiences.

The website also says the property will include a pedestrian skybridge to the newly built section of the Las Vegas Convention Center. “Prioritizing originality over conformity JW Marriott Las Vegas Blvd will usher in a new generation of Las Vegas resorts,” the website reads.

The date is the latest in a string of scheduled openings for a multibillion-dollar resort that remains unfinished a dozen years after it was supposed to debut, and after the once-bankrupt project changed hands multiple times. Billionaire Carl Icahn acquired the property in 2010 for around $150 million and then sold it in 2017 for $600 million to developer Steve Witkoff and real estate firm New Valley, a subsidiary of cigarette maker the Vector Group.

In early 2018, Witkoff and Marriott unveiled the resort’s new name, Drew Las Vegas; the plans for two Marriott brands there, JW and Edition; and an expected opening in late 2020. Witkoff, who later pushed the opening to 2022, said early last year that he was close to obtaining a roughly $2 billion construction loan for the project, as reported by Las Vegas Review-Journal. But last March, as Las Vegas rapidly shut down amid the coronavirus outbreak, he suspended construction of the resort.

Soffer reacquired the property in February in partnership with the real estate wing of conglomerate Koch Industries. The new owners acquired debt on the project and gained ownership of the property the same day through a process that lets people avoid foreclosure.