Settlement negotiations began sometime after July 10, which is when US District Judge Larry R. Hicks denied El-Ad's motion for summary judgment against Atwell and also overruled El-Ad's objection to having Tshuva deposed. An El-Ad spokesperson could not immediately respond Wednesday evening to a request for comment.

The El-Ad Group, founded in 1992, develops, owns and operates real estate primarily in the United States, Canada and Asia. In addition to Plaza Las Vegas, El-Ad Group and El-Ad Properties are known in the US for their $675-million acquisition and condominium conversion of the historic Plaza Hotel property in New York City in 2004.

GlobeSt.com first reported the sale of the New Frontier hotel-casino as pending in March 2007. El-Ad subsequently brought on a partner, Property and Building Corp. Ltd., a subsidiary of Tel Aviv-based IDB Development Corp., Israel's largest business group, and made plans for a multi-billion-dollar redevelopment of the site.

In March 2008, the joint venture formed for the project, El-Ad IDB Las Vegas LLC, received approvals for its site development plan and special use permit from the Clark County Commission. At the time, the JV said design completion and the start of the excavation is scheduled to occur before the end of 2008.

Mike Naftali, Tshuva's right-hand man, told GlobeSt.com recently through a representative that while the start date has been delayed along with the repayment of its delay in the start of the project the plans remain the same: seven high-rise towers atop a mid-rise podium. The structures would house 4,100 hotel rooms; 2,600 condominium units; 175,900 sf of gaming; 480,000 sf of retail and restaurant space; 539,607 sf of convention space; a 50,000 sf health club; a 1,500-seat theater; and 227,038-sf of recreation space for pools and other amenities.

"The delay is to allow us time plan and ensure the plans are fully complete and that all bids are in before construction can begin," Naftali said. The delay also applies to payments on $625 million of acquisition debt from Goldman Sachs Group and Credit Suisse Group, which have been deferred to May 2009. Once excavation begins, the project will take 30 months to complete, he said.

Whether it will be able to use the Plaza Hotel name on the project remains up in the air. Clark County District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez last week denied several motions by El-Ad, according to online court records, and a jury trial was scheduled to begin this morning (Thursday, Sept. 11).

Tamares Real Estate, the Lichtenstein-based owner of the 30-year-old, 1,000-room Plaza Hotel in Downtown Las Vegas filed the lawsuit this time last year to prevent El-Ad from using the Plaza name for its Las Vegas Strip project. Behind each company is a billionaire businessman. Tamares is controlled by Poju Zabludowicz. El-Ad Group is controlled by Yitzhak Tshuva. The attorneys representing the two parties did not return phone calls seeking comment.