Marriott to Take Over Uncompleted Fontainebleau Site in Las Vegas
by Jessica Montevago
The new luxury property will feature a casino and approximately 4,000 rooms and suites. Photo: Shutterstock
The unfinished Fontainebleau hotel on the Las Vegas Strip will be transformed into a resort and casino complex, helmed by Marriott International and New York-based global real estate firm Witkoff.
The Drew Las Vegas will house Marriott’s boutique EDITION brand, making its debut in Vegas, and the strip’s first JW Marriott. The luxury resort will have a total of 4,000 rooms and suites. Opening in late 2020, the hotels will be managed by Marriott.
Two Blackbirds Hospitality, led by developer Steve Witkoff and former Cosmopolitan CEO John Unwin, will oversee the launch and operations.
Plans for the integrated resort-casino include over 500,000 square feet of convention and meeting space, as well as entertainment, nightlife, retail and dining options. The site is across the street from the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino-hotel project has gone unfinished since 2009. The 63-story building was nearly completed when Fontainebleau Resorts LLC halted the $2.9 billion development amid the Great Recession.
Witkoff purchased the property last August for $600 million from financier Carl Icahn, who bought the property out of bankruptcy in 2010.
