Twin Towers Proposal South of Fontainebleau Wins County Approval

Photo byBPS Partners LLC

A proposal for twin towers for residences and hotel rooms where the Riviera once stood sailed through a Clark County Zoning Commission review Wednesday.

A rendering of Brett Torino’s mixed-use attraction featuring two 600-foot towers and a 439-foot amusement ride on 10 acres south of Fontainebleau Las Vegas was reviewed and approved Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024, by the Clark County Zoning Commission. (BPS Partners LLC)

Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the plan for the mixed-use development featuring 600-foot towers and a 439-foot amusement ride on 10 acres south of Fontainebleau Las Vegas at Las Vegas and Elvis Presley boulevards proposed by Las Vegas developer Brett Torino.

The towers would include a 750-room nongaming hotel and 425 condominium units. The easternmost 5 acres are also being considered for a 3,310-seat domed performance venue, which Fontainebleau is considering buying for $112.5 million.

Developers did not describe the amusement ride or whether it would be a thrill ride or an observation tower.

This is fantastic news for the north end of the Strip, so I’m very excited. I look forward to working with developer Brett Torino and the architects in the coming years. - Commission Chairman Tick Segerblom.

Torino and his BPS Partners LLC are purchasing the site for $125 million from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which in 2015 bought 26 acres occupied by the fabled Riviera hotel-casino.

The LVCVA used most of the land to provide access to its $1 billion West Hall, a planned addition to the Las Vegas Convention Center. It then agreed to sell the 10 acres after a first attempt to sell them to Chilean developer Claudio Fischer for $120 million failed, and the deal didn’t close in 2022.

According to the LVCVA’s sales documents, the developer would be required to start construction by 2033, but a company representative said developers would prefer to begin sooner rather than later. There is no timeline yet.

In the public hearing on the proposal, no one spoke in opposition to the project.

In an August Winchester Town Board meeting, members discussed Torino’s request to reduce parking by 52 per cent from the code-mandated 3,027 spaces. A similar reduction in the number of spaces to charge electric vehicles and a 29.5 per cent reduction in loading zone spaces were also approved.

The developer requested a parking waiver based on LVCVA research showing that around 50 per cent of Las Vegas visitors use their cars for transportation in the city, with more visitors using taxis, buses, shuttles, and ride-hailing services.

Developers have noted that a station for the Boring Co.’s Las Vegas Loop underground transit system is near the project.

The owner also needed approval to exceed the code-restricted height of 75 feet for the residential tower, which would have 425 units, and the nongaming hotel tower, which would have 750 rooms.

Nancy Amundsen, a land use planning consultant working for Torino, said the project isn’t planning a heliport, a feature that was once included. Amundsen also said developers would return to the county if it connected Fontainebleau with the project with bridges over Elvis Presley Boulevard.

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Douglas Pilarski is an award-winning writer & journalist based on the West Coast. He writes about luxury goods, exotic cars, horology, tech, food, lifestyle, equestrian & rodeo, and millionaire travel.

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