Twin towers proposal south of Fontainebleau wins county approval
A proposal for twin towers for residences and hotel rooms where the Riviera once stood sailed through a Clark County Zoning Commission review Wednesday.
Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the plan for the mixed-use development featuring 600-foot towers and a 439-foot amusement ride on 10 acres south of Fontainebleau Las Vegas at Las Vegas and Elvis Presley boulevards proposed by Las Vegas developer Brett Torino.
The towers would include a 750-room nongaming hotel and 425 condominium units. A 3,310-seat domed performance venue also is tabbed for the easternmost 5 acres, which Fontainebleau is considering buying for $112.5 million.
Developers did not describe the amusement ride or whether it would be a thrill ride or an observation tower.
“I would just say this is fantastic news for the north end of the Strip, so I’m very excited,” Commission Chairman Tick Segerblom said after the vote. “I look forward to working with you and the architects in the coming years.”
The site is being purchased by Torino and his BPS Partners LLC for $125 million from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which bought 26 acres occupied by the fabled Riviera hotel-casino in 2015.
The LVCVA used most of the land to provide access to its $1 billion West Hall, the newest addition to the Las Vegas Convention Center. It then agreed to sell off the 10 acres after a first effort to sell it to Chilean developer Claudio Fischer for $120 million failed, and the deal didn’t close in 2022.
According to the LVCVA’s sales documents, the developer would be required to start construction by 2033, but a representative of the company said developers would prefer to begin “sooner rather than later” although there is no timeline yet.
In the public hearing on the proposal, no one spoke in opposition to the project.
In an August Winchester Town Board meeting, members discussed Torino’s request to reduce parking by 52 percent from the code-mandated 3,027 spaces. A similar reduction in the number of spaces to charge electric vehicles and a 29.5 percent reduction in loading zone spaces also were approved.
The developer made the request for a parking waiver in line with LVCVA research that shows that the number of Las Vegas visitors who use their own cars for transportation in the city is around 50 percent with more visitors using taxis, buses, shuttles and ride-hailing services here.
Developers have noted that there is a station near the project for the Boring Co.’s Las Vegas Loop underground transit system.
The owner also needed approval to exceed a code-restricted height of 75 feet for the residential tower, which would have 425 units. The nongaming hotel tower would have 750 rooms.
Nancy Amundsen, a land use planning consultant working for Torino, said the project isn’t planning a heliport, a feature that at one time was included. Amundsen also said developers would return to the county if it ever decided to connect Fontainebleau with the project with bridges over Elvis Presley Boulevard.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
