Friday, Feb. 12, 2021 | 10:48 a.m.
A well-funded real estate firm has announced a deal to acquire a stalled casino-resort development on the north end of the Strip.
Koch Real Estate Investments, an arm of Koch Industries, said it is teaming with Fontainebleau Development to complete the Drew Las Vegas, a long-planned, 63-story resort at 2777 Las Vegas Boulevard.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. A target opening date was not revealed.
The blue-glass building is near the under-construction Resorts World Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall expansion.
The Drew began construction as the Fontainebleau in 2006 and was about 70 percent complete when the project went bankrupt in 2009 during the Great Recession.
Jeffrey Soffer, chairman and CEO of Fontainebleau Development, was involved in the original group that planned to open the property, though it later changed hands.
Steven Witkoff and a Florida-based investment firm called New Valley LLC bought the property in 2017.
Plans were for the resort to eventually open as the Drew Las Vegas.
The involvement of Koch Real Estate, according to the Dallas-based firm, will “provide the unique ability to combine patient, long-term capital.”
“We believe strongly in the Las Vegas market and see the property as a great opportunity to contribute to the long-term success and positive trajectory of this vibrant and innovative region,” Jake Francis, president of Koch Real Estate, said in the release.
Led by billionaire Charles Koch, Koch Industries, with about 62,000 employees in the U.S., is the largest private company in the country.
The Kansas-based company got its start decades ago in the energy business but now has interests in a range of industries and a presence in more than 70 countries.
Fontainebleau Development is based in Florida.
