IDB Development Joins Elad in New Frontier Deal

LAS VEGAS-Tel Aviv-based IDB Development Corp. has joined Israeli billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva’s New York City-based Elad Properties in a planned multi-billion redevelopment of the 34.5-acre New Frontier casino-resort property adjacent to Wynn Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. The two companies will reportedly have equal shares in the venture, according to local industry sources and published reports citing an announcement by IDB in Israel.

Elad Properties in May agreed to acquire the New Frontier property from Wichita billionaire Phil Ruffin for $1.2 billion. The sale is slated to close before the end of August. The redevelopment, to cost at least an additional $3.5 billion, is slated to include a 3,500-room ultra-luxury hotel, condominiums, retail shops, restaurants and convention space.

The plan is to break ground for the project in 2008 and have it up and running in 2011. The goal is to recreate New York’s City’s Fifth Avenue on the Las Vegas Strip and be branded after New York City’s Plaza Hotel, which Elad acquired in 2004 and is converting to condominiums.