Closed Las Vegas Strip hotel gets new life, casino appears dead
Sometimes plans get shared for Las Vegas Strip resorts, casinos, restaurants, and retail stores that never actually come to be. It's challenging to build in Las Vegas — it is a desert that has few raw materials where the weather can be punishing — and many projects never get off the ground.
In many cases, there are billion-dollar projects that kick off with great fanfare, which never even start. That's the case with the All-Net Arena planned by former NBA player Jackie Robinson on the north end of the Strip.
Plans have been filed, and ground was broken back in 2014, but numerous funding plans for the project have either fallen through or they were never real in the first place. It's a tantalizing dream as Las Vegas hopes to land and NBA expansion team, but Robinson's group has not moved past the announcement and theater stage of the project.
That's not uncommon on the Strip but long delays don't always mean a project has died. Another North Strip property, Fontainebleau Las Vegas, recently opened after a 20-year odyssey that included multiple stops and starts as well as several owners.
Now, another Las Vegas Strip project — one first made public in 2019 — appears to be back from the dead.
People walk through Las Vegas' Harry Reid International Airport.
Image source: Shutterstock
Long-closed Las Vegas Strip property may make a comeback
The former Atrium Hotel first went bankrupt back in 2008 during the housing crisis when a lot of businesses struggled due to failing consumer demand. Siegel Group, a Las Vegas real estate developer bought the property for $4.2 million in 2012 and shared plans to rebuild it in 2019.
Those plans never actually happened, likely due to concerns about the Covid pandemic, but now the company which owns Las Vegas' Gold Spike Hotel & Casino, has new plans for the Atrium site.
"The Siegel Group is in its 'final stages' to get permits to move forward with plans to demolish the Atrium Hotel and build a 480-unit flexible-stay apartment complex," said Siegel Group CEO Stephen Siegel, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
No start date has been shared, but Siegel Group has asked Clark County to make some improvements to the area around the site including closing off a tunnel and widening "the stretch of Paradise Road between Harmon Avenue and Sands/Twain Avenue," the paper reported.
Another Las Vegas Strip project remains stalled
When construction on the Dream Hotel and Casino stopped in March 2023 over unpaid bills, the project's owner, Shopoff Realty Investments, said the pause would be short. It promised that new funding was coming, but construction on the property remains stopped.
The boutique hotel sits near the Harry Reid International Airport 5051 South Las Vegas Boulevard.
"According to developers, the new resort is expected to be 20 stories tall with 531 guestrooms and suites as well as dining and nightlife venues, a pool deck, a bar, and a lounge space on the gaming floor and on-site parking," KTNV Las Vegas reported.
The project, which was supposed to open in Fall 2024, was supposed to become a 531-room lifestyle hotel and casino with seven experiential dining and nightlife venues, 12,000 square feet of meeting and event space, and a 20,000-square-foot casino.
Construction stopped when the developer fell millions of dollars behind in paying its building partners. After sharing plans for new funding that would have led to a January 2024 restart, the developer has been silent about the future of the Dream Hotel and Casino.
"This project represents a new type of Vegas hotel experience, offering tourists and locals alike a unique boutique hotel option on the Las Vegas Strip. We are thrilled to break ground on Dream Las Vegas and watch as it energizes the southern end of the Strip, while providing countless jobs and revenue for local government," explained Shopoff Realty Investments CEO William Shopoff at the time.