Fontainebleau Las Vegas will open on December 13, 2023, after 16 years of development and construction.
Courtesy of Fontainebleau Las Vegas
The cinematic quality of the long journey to open the doors of Fontainebleau Las Vegas is not lost on Jeff Soffer, president and CEO of the station.
“It could be a really good book or a really good movie,” Soffer says of the dramatic sequence of events surrounding one of the biggest comeback stories in the history of the hospitality industry.
Intended to be the sister property to the legendary Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel – the southeastern playground of Rat Pack legends like Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr, considered America’s first mega-resort – the Fontainebleau Las Vegas was opened under Soffer’s leadership in 2007. He acquired the land in 2000.
The hotel tower was completed in 2008. The following year, banks collapsed, financing dried up, lawsuits were filed and construction was halted. What was to be the tallest tower in the state of Nevada, at 67 stories, sat in limbo for 12 years, 70 percent complete. It serves as a costly reminder of the Great Recession, which hit Southern Nevada hard. The unfinished building was considered an eyesore by those who encountered it day after day. Many thought it would never be finished and would eventually be demolished.
Several owners came and went before Soffer and Fontainebleau Development, in partnership with Koch Real Estate Investments, purchased the property in 2021. Plans were revealed, construction resumed and the 3,644-room resort will finally open on December 13, 2023 , before 70 years of Fontainebleau Miami, in 2024.
“You could be the best businessman in the world, but if you don’t have the right timing…” Soffer says of the project’s long dormancy. In the end, though, “everything kind of lined up.”
When Soffer found out that Fontainebleau Las Vegas was back, one of his first calls was to Miami-based hotel and restaurant entrepreneur David Grutman, who was about to sign a long-awaited deal with another Las Vegas casino-resort.
“He said, ‘Don’t sign this deal.’ I’m going to get the Fontainebleau Las Vegas. I’m going to need you,’ says Grutman, whose celebrity favorites in Miami include the Goodtime Hotel, LIV nightclub and restaurants Komodo, Papi Steak, Strawberry Moon, Swan, Gekkō and The Key Club.
“It took me two years to get to this point — my deal was done, ready to go,” says Grutman, who worked on the original plans for Fontainebleau Las Vegas 16 years ago. But (Soffer) is the man who gave me my chance. My first bartending job was at his father’s restaurant in his strip mall. When I went to open my first nightclub, he made me his partner in 2008 at LIV. He gave me a platform to do what I do. There’s only one guy in the world who could stop me from signing this deal and that was Jeff Soffer.
Through strategic partnership, Grutman’s Groot Hospitality will bring Fontainebleau Miami Beach’s LIV nightclub and two of its restaurants, Komodo and Papi Steak, to the desert when the $3.7 million Vegas resort opens billions of dollars. The LIV Beach nightclub will be a new addition to the portfolio and will open its doors in spring 2024.
Groot Hospitality’s Komodo — the Miami location earned $41 million in 2022 — will make its Las Vegas debut at Fontainebleau. Rendered courtesy of Rockwell Group.
These sites will be large in Las Vegas. This will be Southeast Asian restaurant Komodo’s third location, following Miami and Dallas. According to the “Restaurant Business Top 100” ranking of the largest independent restaurants, the Miami establishment was No. 1 in the country in 2022 with $41 million in sales and 285,000 meals served. Papi Steak is run by the charismatic David “Papi” Einhorn, whose white-gloved Louis XIII-loving antics became the hallmark of this era of South Beach indulgence, along with the enormous slabs of meat in his signature “Beef Case “. Inspired by the Marsellus Wallace briefcase in pulp Fiction, the Beef Case is like bottle service for a steak. When someone orders a $1,000 55-ounce Wagyu Tomahawk, they get a 60-second show with sparklers, an entrance song, lasers, all to showcase the piece of meat in a bedazzled case and lined with gold. These extravagant shows mean big business: Papi Steak, which seats just 93 people, is estimated to have grossed more than $24 million last year. The Las Vegas version will be nearly three times larger than the original. Grutman restaurants are frequented by celebrities such as David Beckham, Drake, Rihanna, Tom Brady, Anitta, Maluma, Justin Bieber and many more. Komodo and Papi Steak will be among 36 new restaurants and bars opening in Fontainebleau Las Vegas. Situated on just 25 acres, a compact footprint for a Las Vegas casino, the resort is vertically integrated – the casino has 42-foot ceilings – with restaurants and other amenities separate from the gaming action.
Papi Steak, known for its $1,000 Beef Case and Louis XIII presentations, is another restaurant that David Grutman is bringing from Miami to Las Vegas. Rendered courtesy of Rockwell Group.
“Las Vegas has matured a lot since I started this project,” Soffer says. “People want to see, be seen and be entertained. LIV and LIV Beach won’t be the biggest (nightclub and nightclub) in Vegas, but they will offer the best experience. Soffer also notes that everything about Fontainebleau Las Vegas will feature the highest standards of luxury.
LIV opened in Miami in 2008, the same year XS debuted at Wynn Las Vegas, ushering in the megaclub era. The EDM DJ boom would follow. The two cities have long been neck and neck, with Vegas taking the edge over Miami with new multi-purpose venues, the luxury of space and above all the multi-billion dollar casino business that drives the club industry, which fuels DJs’ $60 million salaries. Since Resorts World opened in 2021, no new resorts have been built on the Strip. LIV will embody the way Las Vegas audiences now want to consume their entertainment.
A rendering of LIV Nightclub. The venue features an expanded section of stage tables, a top-notch nightclub next to the DJ that costs five figures and up. Rendered courtesy of Rockwell Group.
Courtesy of Rockwell Group.
Soffer and Grutman opted for a stadium-like design by superstar architect/designer David Rockwell, with no bad seats or obstructed sightlines, whether at LIV, the 50,000-square-foot multi-level nightclub with 62 tables, or at the adjacent LIV Beach, the 35,000 square foot nightclub. square foot nightclub. LIV Beach is everything you find in the disco, just add water and sun, with six bungalows with private pools.
Both clubs will be built around the DJ and stage tables, expected to be the most coveted seats, which will cost up to $25,000. Yet unlike most Las Vegas clubs, where the general public doesn’t even get to see the DJ booth – and the best views are reserved for those who purchase five-figure tables – at LIV, the average customer will gather in the middle of the action. LIV and LIV Beach will have a capacity of approximately 2,000 people, half the Strip’s standard.
LIV Beach has six bungalows each with their own swimming pool. Rendered courtesy of Rockwell Group.
“I’m in the entertainment business and we’re having a party, and I want you to be part of this party, whether you’re at the bar downstairs or upstairs, or whether you’re in a skybox, or whether you’re at a table next to the DJ,” says Grutman. He also promises to do something different musically with “a new crop of DJs who have made a lot of noise in the world but haven’t made that kind of noise in Las Vegas.” No doubt, they will also attract headliners from other nightclubs in town.
“There is no cutthroat hotel city in the world than Las Vegas. We don’t really have an inch to waste,” Grutman says.
A version of this story appears in the September 20 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
