As more and more projects are announced in and around the Las Vegas Strip, some have raised questions about the few remaining plots of land that have yet to be developed or sold along America’s most coveted stretch of real estate.
One of the most notable examples is the former site of the New Frontier, which was imploded in a dramatic ceremony with fireworks and pyrotechnics in November 2007.
The 38-acre plot located between Resorts World and Fashion Show mall has had several high-profile owners over the years, and has been controlled by Wynn Resorts since late 2017.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Wynn said in a February securities filing that the land “may be used for future development,” but did not provide any additional details.
When asked for an update, Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver told the newspaper that the company does not “have any update or changes on our plans for that parcel.”
Aside from the space and location, another intriguing aspect of the plot is that it comes with 24 acre-feet of water rights, equivalent to just under 8 million gallons.
Despite its benefits, the plot has turned into somewhat of an unlucky asset over the last two decades—when New Frontier owner Phil Ruffin sold it for $1.2 billion to Israel-based El Ad Properties at the height of the real estate boom in May 2007, it represented the largest per-acre price in the history of the Strip.
El Ad immediately imploded the casino with visions of a multibillion-dollar mixed-use development under the same brand as New York’s famous Plaza hotel, but the financial crisis quickly derailed those plans.
Then in mid-2014, Australian media mogul James Packer bought the plot for $260 million with renewed optimism for a new project called Alon Las Vegas, complete with high-rise towers and even a manmade lake.
However, that dream also fizzled out, and Wynn Resorts eventually bought the New Frontier site and leased additional surrounding acreage for a total of $336 million.
They too, however, have experienced some pain related to the land, as former Wynn CEO Steve Wynn told investors in January 2018 that he planned to move quickly on a new development there before getting ousted from the company just days later due to sweeping sexual harassment allegations that would eventually cause him to sell his stake in the company and disassociate from the industry altogether.
