Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Berkley wants talks with Obama administration on Fontainebleau

Click to enlarge photo

Shelley Berkley

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley today weighed in on the dispute between the $2.9 billion Fontainebleau resort and its banks, asking the Obama administration to get involved and "urging all parties to enter into discussions as soon as possible to rectify the situation."

Berkley, who joined Sen. Harry Reid in expressing concern over the possible lack of $790 million in bank funding for the resort under construction on the Las Vegas Strip, said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that the dispute illustrates a bigger problem.

"This is just the latest in a series of very high profile projects that have been put in jeopardy by troubles in the commercial lending market," she said.

"I would ask you to examine this case closely given the impact on Southern Nevada and its 1.5 million residents," she said.

Fontainebleau last week sued several banks, including banks that have received federal bailout money, charging they have wrongly declared a default on the Las Vegas project. The banks haven't yet responded to the allegation and no one officially has specified what triggered the alleged default.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy