James Packer has been working hard to expand his casino business around the world. He has made waves in Australia, Macau and the Philippines – and now, he will be entering the American gambling market. He has recently made plans to build a new casino in Las Vegas where the New Frontier Casino used to stand. Packer will be working on this project with Andrew Pascal, the former president of Wynn Las Vegas.
The two gambling moguls will start a new company to operate a casino resort on the property. They plan to break ground in 2015 and aim to open the venue in 2018 . The site of the former Frontier Casino has remained unoccupied since 2007, when the property was imploded. It opened in 1942 and was a popular venue in its early days.
When Frontier was imploded, the land was supposed to be used to build a casino based on New York’s Plaza Hotel. However, the global recession thwarted those plans. So, for the past seven years, the site has not seen any new development and has set empty. James Packer also has quite an interesting history in Las Vegas. Years ago, he invested in the Fontaine Bleu casino project.
Unfortunately, the project never took off. He also attempted to buy the Cosmopolitan Casino earlier this year, but a developer named Blackstone beat him to the punch. “You can’t be in the gaming industry and not have a special reverence for Las Vegas — that’s where it all began,” says Packer. “While we fell short in past attempts to enter that market, we now have the ideal opportunity.”
This is going to be an exciting project for the Las Vegas Strip. We will keep you posted with further developments.
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