Miami, FL – Is a Casino Coming to the Fontainebleau Hotel?

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    Miami, FL – Real-estate developer Jeff Soffer picked a tough time to open his huge Miami Beach hotel, the relaunched Fontainebleau.

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    While Soffer seems to be still living large, the mogul hasn’t had a smooth ride over the past year.

    Soffer – who’s opening a huge new Fontainebleau casino hotel in Las Vegas this fall – is disappointed he can’t also have a casino at the legendary Miami original.
    “The hotel is obviously set up in a way that would be highly conducive to housing a casino,” said one source.

    In September, the Miami Herald reported, “When Jeffrey Soffer acquired the resort in 2005, he made it clear he sees it as a Vegas outpost in Miami Beach.”

    Although casino gambling is not currently permitted in Miami or Miami Beach, the paper noted that a pro-casino petition filed last year by developers of the nine-block, downtown Miami World Center included provisions for a similar casino at the Fontainebleau.

    But one hotel insider said that, “A casino was not part of Jeff’s initial plan. It would be a great thing if it happened, but it was never expected.”

    The source also denied hotel-world rumors that the recession had forced the Fontainebleau to steeply discount its rates to fill its 1,504 rooms: “It’s a tough environment, but the Fontainebleau is doing well and generating cash flow. It’s still filling rooms.”

    Meanwhile, Miami developer Craig Robins said he filed a lawsuit against Soffer last April over a fender-bender on the tarmac of a Virginia airport.
    Soffer’s Boeing Business Jet allegedly crashed into Robins’ Challenger in May of 2007. The case is still pending.


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    5 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Just what we needed in Miami Beach (which is a haven of preitzus anyway)>

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    dont visit if you dont like it

    Many Years Too Late
    Many Years Too Late
    15 years ago

    If Casino gambling were allowed decades ago, Yiddishe Retirees would have owned a gold mine of real estate. Today, while there is still a small kehilla, there is little room to grow with the extremely high home prices. Amazingly though Rav Zweig’s Talmudic University has purchased a former hotel and is building a huge Yeshiva Complex there. If only this had happened in the 1950s !!! Maybe there still is time for Torah in Miami Beach.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I think that guy was jealous that Soffer has a Boeing Biz jet (it is the size of a 737)