Las Vegas makes dreams and it crushes them. That's certainly true for gamblers, but it's also a reality for people developing projects on the Las Vegas Strip, whether they be massive casinos, tourist attractions, or something else entirely.
Yes, the big boys at Caesars Entertainment (CZR) and MGM Resorts International (MGM), which dominate the 4.2 mile Las Vegas Strip seemingly get whatever they want, but that's not true for smaller players. Getting funding for projects that costs hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars, requires an awful lot to go right.
That's why a project like Fontainebleau Las Vegas, started by the owners of the famed Fontainebleau in Miami can start a project in 2005 only to see it pass through multiple developers before ending up back in the hands of the original creator of the project.
It's a tale that sounds made up, but the 67-story hotel, gaming, entertainment, and meeting destination has literally taken nearly 20 years and multiple owners to now be headed toward a 2023 opening. Fontainebleau Las Vegas isn't the only long-planned Las Vegas Strip property that appears headed toward completion.
Another highly-anticipated project has secured funding.
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Las Vegas Strip Hotel and Arena Finally Gets Funding
Las Vegas has become a sports destination with the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights playing at T-Mobile Arena on the Strip and the Las Vegas Raiders playing at Allegiant Stadium, just off the strip. That's not the end of pro sports in Las Vegas as the Oakland Athletics have been negotiating with multiple Strip and Strip-adjacent sites.
Now, another sports legend, with an even more famous name, appears to have secured funding, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
"A multibillion-dollar funding package was unveiled this week for former NBA player Jackie Robinson’s arena and hotel project, a long-sought venture on the north Strip that has seen other financing plans come and go," the paper reported.
That funding will come from Active Capital Holdings which had its Executive Trustee Arthur “AJ” Lewis confirm that deal at a recent event. He told a crowded club that his company planned “to support the event, to support the project and to formally let Jackie know that we are going to finance the project,”
Active Capital will provide a total of $4.7 billion with the deal projected to close in early March.
Is This an Arena for a Las Vegas NBA Team?
Plans for this project have been around since 2014 and it was expected to be built for around $1.3 billion as recently as 2016. Robinson wants to build the All Net Resort & Arena, which would feature an arena with a retractable roof, two luxury hotels, a convention center, a movie theater, and more "on the long-vacant former Wet ’n’ Wild water park site, between Sahara Las Vegas and the under-construction Fontainebleau Las Vegas," the Review-Journal reported.
The site would also have retail shops and a broadcast studio. The arena would seat 23,000 for basketball and 25,000 for concerts and boxing. And, Robinson has been clear that the new arena would be an immediate challenger to T-Mobile Arena should an NBA team relocate to Las Vegas.
“Would we like to have an NBA team? Absolutely. But, would we be deterred if we don’t? No," Robinson said on the All Net website.
That would pull the 23,000 people who could attend an NBA game away from the Caesars and MGM properties which dominate the mid and south strip and add to the revitalization of the North Las Vegas Strip.
Comcast (CMCSA) will also be an investor in the project which expects to break ground in October. That's a strategic decision, according to Robinson.
“They’re a large producer of content. They own Universal. They own NBC. They manage 250 arenas around the world. They’re going to book it. They’re going to market it,” he said.
