Posted Friday, May 13, MIAMI BEACH - The Fontainebleau name, famous on Miami Beach for more than half a century, is becoming a brand. Its owners plan to splash the name on a string of resorts worldwide, including one in Las Vegas.
In its 1950’s and 1960’s heyday, Frank, Sammy and Dean performed and partied at the Fontainebleau hotel on Miami Beach. Stretch limousines and Hollywood glitz were as integral to the resort’s landscape as the unique curved Morris Lapidus-designed architecture that still punctuates the beachfront. It was the place to be and be seen.
It was Las Vegas Southeast.
After years of decline, partly from being supplanted by South Beach, the Fontainebleau is again looking to Las Vegas sparkle for its next incarnation. New owner Turnberry Associates, an Aventura, Fla., property developer, just formed Las Vegas-based Fontainebleau Resorts, and plans to bring celebrity chefs, splashy entertainment productions, swank clubs and a high-end spa to the hotel.
Turnberry and its chief executive, Jeffrey Soffer, who is also founder and chairman of Fontainebleau Resorts, just completed the acquisition of the resort hotel from owner and developer Stephen Muss. The acquisition agreement was announced in January at undisclosed terms.
Fontainebleau Resorts isn’t just bringing Las Vegas to points south again; it is rolling the Fontainebleau name out as a brand and plans to unveil a number of destination resorts around the globe, the company said.
Although some Fontainebleau resorts will not sport casinos, condominium units are almost certain to be on the drawing boards. Fontainebleau Resorts pointed to Turnberry’s deep condominium portfolio in both Miami and Las Vegas, as well as the higher returns on capital from condo-hotels over pure-play hotel developments.
“We are launching a compelling brand and breed with Fontainebleau Resorts,” Soffer, the majority owner in the company, said in a statement.
So far, Fontainebleau Resorts is detailing just one of those projects, aptly enough in Las Vegas, where the company owns a 25-acre site on the Strip’s renewed north end. Fontainebleau Resorts said it plans to develop a 4,000-room resort and casino under the Fontainebleau brand. It is aiming for a 2008 opening.
Fontainebleau Resorts isn’t just banking on success by planting its headquarters in Las Vegas. Turnberry Associates is developing three condominium projects in Las Vegas. (Turnberry and Muss also developed the condominium-hotel towers at the Miami Beach Fontainebleau.)
In addition, Soffer has hired 30 former Mandalay Resort Group executives to tap Vegas-style development savvy, the Miami Herald reported. Glenn Schaeffer, formerly president and chief financial officer of Mandalay Resorts, was named Fontainebleau Resorts president and chief executive.
For the Fontainebleau Miami Beach renovation, Fontainebleau Resorts plans to expand the property to 1,750 rooms, up from its current 1,340. The company said the room count would be more than twice the capacity of Miami Beach’s next-largest hotel.
