Australian casino mogul James Packer has laid out his vision — or at least part of it — for the Strip's latest megaresort.
Plans filed with Clark County late last month show a two-tower, 1,100-room project called Alon Las Vegas to be built on the vacant 34.6-acre site just north of Fashion Show mall, where the New Frontier once stood. Packer's group acquired the property almost a year ago.
One building is called the “VIP Tower,” and the other, taller building is called the “Resort Tower.” An architectural drawing shows plans for villas, the "Black Box Theater," a nightclub, a ballroom and a pool. But other details about the property's main features and amenities were apparently not disclosed.
Among other things on file, a letter by James Noel, executive vice president of development, to the county’s planning department divulged almost nothing beyond the project’s name, the number of rooms it will have, and the number of Nevadans it’s expected to employ — 4,500.
“Central to our vision for the resort is the careful consideration, creative exploration, detailed definition, and uncompromising execution of the resort experience,” he wrote in the letter, dated May 28.
The filings comprise a pre-application for the resort, and Clark County commissioners have not scheduled any hearings on the matter, said Dan Kulin, county government spokesman.
Efforts to reach the developers for comment today were unsuccessful.
A company official released a statement quoting project partner Andrew Pascal in which he repeats what Noel wrote.
“Central to our vision for Alon is the careful consideration, creative exploration and uncompromising execution of the resort experience,” Pascal says in the statement. “We are building a team of seasoned industry operators, entrepreneurs and global designers who bring a fresh, new approach to what we think the future of Las Vegas should be.”
Packer, the billionaire chairman of Crown Resorts, teamed with Pascal, a former Wynn Resorts executive, and investment giant Oaktree Capital Management to acquire a controlling stake in the north Strip site last August.
They foreclosed on 18.4 acres of the property, county records show, and reportedly are renting the remaining 16.2 acres from longtime owners the Elardi family.
When they announced the acquisition, the developers said they expected to start building a resort there in late 2015 and to finish in 2018. They did not disclose other details, including what the property would be called or what it would feature.
The portion acquired through foreclosure had been owned by Israel’s El-Ad Group, which bought the New Frontier in 2007 for $1.24 billion from casino mogul Phil Ruffin and imploded it.
The company wanted to replace the old haunt with an $8 billion luxury hotel similar to its Plaza Hotel in New York, but its plans flopped with the recession.
Packer’s group reportedly paid $280 million for the site, which is just south of where Malaysia’s Genting Group is building Resorts World Las Vegas, a Chinese-themed megaresort.
Genting bought the 87-acre, partially built site for $350 million cash in 2013 from Boyd Gaming Corp. The Las Vegas-based casino owner had been building the Echelon resort there but mothballed the project in 2008.