Las Vegas has long history of never-built casinos, other big projects

Las Vegas is known around the world for its towering casino-resorts.

But for all the massive projects that have been built in America’s casino capital, there have also been many supersized ideas that never materialized.

Here’s a look at some never-built projects, from the Strip to the suburbs, as outlined in news reports, Clark County records and press releases.

Alon Las Vegas

Australian billionaire James Packer acquired a spread of land next to Fashion Show mall in 2014 and set out to build an 1,100-room hotel-casino.

The project, Alon Las Vegas, was slated to have two high-rise towers and include bars, restaurants, pools and a manmade lake, Clark County records show.

But Packer reportedly had trouble raising project funds, and his former casino company Crown Resorts bailed on the development and put the land up for sale.

Wynn Resorts acquired the land and some adjacent acreage — about 38 acres total — for $336 million. It announced the purchase in late 2017 but hasn’t built a project yet.

Also, the only reason the land was empty to begin with is because, years earlier, prior owners imploded a casino there and planned a new project that never came out of the ground.

Israeli investors bought the New Frontier in 2007 for more than $1 billion and toppled it with plans to develop a luxury resort called Plaza Las Vegas.

But the economy crashed, and the project was never built.

Vegas 888

During the frenzied real estate bubble of the mid-2000s, there were so many high-rise proposals in Southern Nevada that people called it the “Manhattanization” of Las Vegas.

Most of those towering projects were never built, including one that was penciled in next to the Palms.

Florida developer Christopher DelGuidice acquired a parcel of land next to the off-Strip resort for $50 million in 2004 and announced plans for Vegas 888 the next year.

The 50-story luxury condo tower was slated to have butlers, poolside villas and a nightclub called The Whale Club. He opened a sales center but never built the tower, and the land went into foreclosure.

“That would have been the hottest building ever,” DelGuidice told the Review-Journal in 2016.

Las Vegas developer Chris Beavor bought the site, at the corner of Flamingo Road and Valley View Boulevard, in 2016 for $13.5 million and launched a mixed-use project.

Pinnacle Las Vegas

Once home to a Honda dealership, a plot of land near The Orleans was supposed to get a big project during the bubble years.

Pinnacle Las Vegas was slated to feature two 36-story towers linked with sky-bridge suites, according to marketing materials from 2006 that said the $850 million development would feature some 1,100 units.

The condo-hotel project on Tropicana Avenue just east of Decatur Boulevard was also supposed to include a hibiscus-shaped pool, restaurants, fitness center, spa, and “digital concierge service,” marketing materials said.

It was never built.

Sullivan Square

Irish and Las Vegas developers teamed up in 2006 to build Sullivan Square, a multi-tower project at Sunset Road and Durango Drive in the southwest valley.

Plans called for 1,380 residential units, 45,000 square feet of retail space and 272,000 square feet of offices, county records show.

But the project sparked litigation and was never finished, leaving a giant, excavated hole in the ground for years.

Minnesota fitness chain Life Time bought the site in 2019 and filed plans with the county for a three-story facility that would span 125,500 square feet.

The once-gaping hole in the ground was filled, but Life Time’s project has yet to take shape.

“We are still excited about bringing to Life Time to this site, however we do not have specific timing to share at this time for when construction” would start, spokeswoman Natalie Bushaw said Thursday, adding she expects to know more by mid-year.

Chris Milam

Texas developer Chris Milam had a long history of pitching big projects in Southern Nevada and never building them.

In 2006, he reached a deal to buy the 27-acre former Wet ’n’ Wild water park site on the north Strip for $450 million and filed plans for a monster skyscraper: a 142-story casino-resort.

It was never built.

In 2010, after the economy crashed, Milam filed plans for the 20,000-seat Silver State Arena at the same site. The $750 million project would “light this area on fire” with economic activity, he said at the time.

That, too, wasn’t built.

In early 2011, Milam proposed a downtown Las Vegas complex with an arena and two stadiums that would reportedly cost nearly $1.6 billion. By spring 2011, he wanted the project – then slated to cost almost $2 billion – at the current Allegiant Stadium site west of the Strip.

He then drew up plans for an arena and three stadiums in the Henderson desert and tied up the project site — some 480 acres of federal land — in 2012 with a $10.5 million bid to the Bureau of Land Management.

In early 2013, the city of Henderson sued Milam and others involved in the project. The city claimed they made “numerous false and misleading” statements to city officials and “conspired” to acquire public land at a discount and sell it in pieces “at a substantial profit.”

Milam settled the lawsuit within a few months. According to a federal report, he agreed to pay the city $4.5 million, to have his investors replace him in the land sale process, and to never do business in Henderson again.

Milam previously told the Review-Journal that he loves Las Vegas and that he “took quite a lot of abuse” over his multi-venue sports proposal because people thought he wasn’t realistic.

He also said his years in the valley were “difficult for all of us. But we tried.”

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.