Unfinished North Strip Casino Gets Revived

LAS VEGAS, NV - It's been a peculiar reality for nearly ten years that Las Vegas' tallest building not named Stratosphere sat unoccupied at the north end of the Las Vegas Strip. Now, plans have been set in motion to finally finish the the project that was at one time supposed to become the Fontainebleau.

Work will progress on that unfinished building, but when it opens in late 2020 it will have a new name: The Drew Las Vegas. That's according to an Associated Press article Monday detailing the plans of a New York-based real estate firm to develop and open the property.

Construction of the currently unoccupied building came to a halt in 2009. The project will be revived by Marriott International and the Witkoff Group - based out of New York City. The Witkoff Group took the lead in purchasing the property in August for $600 million, Bloomberg reported.

The building is the tallest in Las Vegas, and the city's second tallest structure, behind the free-standing Stratosphere. When it's finished, it will feature 4,000 rooms and suites to house guests in.

"The structure is so well-conceived, even from nine years ago, that there are a lot of possibilities for us to put out imprint from a design standpoint on that property," said Steve Witkoff, chairman and CEO of the Witkoff Group to the Associated Press.

The new name isn't as random as it may seem. John Katsilometes, a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted that Witkoff's son Andrew died of an overdose in 2011.

Image via John Locher/Associated Press