Whatever happened to that new resort on the south end of the Strip? I think they called it Dream Las Vegas? Ah yes, you mean that empty, half finished hole in the ground close to Mandalay Bay. Well, we we’re wondering about that, too… so we walked ourselves down there and took a look around.
Construction on the Dream Las Vegas stalled March of last year due to millions of dollars in unpaid bills. We actually visited the site last summer to find construction equipment sitting unused behind a privacy fence. Shopoff Realty Investments owns the land and claims this is just a “pause in construction”. I guess we’ll find out eventually.
Located close to Harry Reid Airport, and right next door to the Pinball Hall of Fame, plans are for a boutique hotel standing at 20 stories tall, and boasting over 530 guestrooms and suites. Of course there will be a casino, as well as a pool deck, a bar and nightlife spots, event space, distinctive dining, and on-site parking. That’s if it actually gets build.
When we went back to the construction site a few weeks ago there were some changes from the last time we visited. However, progress was minimal at best, and certainly nowhere near resembling an actual hotel. Work on the project was supposed to re-start this year, and by the looks of things it may have… for a while. But no one was working when we were there. Not one soul.
Despite the promises and plans for renewed funding and a potential restart, there has been little to no communication about the future of Dream Las Vegas from ownership since last year. And while many projects in Sin City stall and fall apart, we were sort of hoping this one would make it. Maybe it will. After all, we know how long Fontainebleau sat unfinished before finally opening late last year.
Construction on the Dream Las Vegas may begin again early in 2024, after encountering financial setbacks that led to a halt in construction. The long-stalled 530 room boutique hotel project situated on the south side of the Strip, near the Welcome to Las Vegas sign.
Indications are that a potential restart of construction could happen as soon as January. The law firm of Kaempfer Crowell represents the developers, and they submitted a request to Clark County for an extension of the project’s building permits, as reported by a Las Vegas newspaper.
The 5.25-acre site was once intended to house the northern portion of the Paramount resort, which was being planned in 2005 but eventually canceled. The site later came to the attention of developer David Daneshforooz, who owns the southern California real estate firm Contour. He partnered with Shopoff Realty Investments to purchase the site for $21 million in February 2020. The partners soon announced plans to build Dream Las Vegas.
Records from Clark County reveal past financial challenges, including multiple liens filed by various project subcontractors and McCarthy since February. In March, McCarthy filed a lien against the property, with subsequent amendments in July.
The amended lien details the project’s total lien at just under $71.5 million. McCarthy has received $49.3 million in payments, but the potential expenditure on work for Dream Las Vegas, as well as materials and equipment costs related to the project, could reach $404.3 million.
When approached for comment by the Review-Journal, McCarthy declined to provide a statement regarding the liens. Originally slated to open at the end of 2024, the project appears to be navigating financial challenges as it aims to resume construction in the coming year. We visited the Dream Las Vegas location and filmed the site earlier this year.