Kansas City billionaire industrialist Phil Ruffin bought the Frontier in 1998 for $200 million and has been working on plans to transform it into one of the top megaresorts on the Strip ever since. He’s considered several different design possibilities, including one based on San Francisco, but a few months ago he announced that his new $2 billion 2,750-room will be called Montreux, after the area on Lake Geneva in western Switzerland known as the Swiss Riviera, which is near the Matterhorn and is home to the 40-year-old Montreux Jazz Festival.
In a recent Las Vegas Sun article, business reporter Liz Bentson wrote, "Word of [Montreux] conjured up images of alpine cottages and quaint stores peddling Swiss watches, cheese, and chocolates. But that’s hardly the case. Montreux’s interior -- a mix of glass artwork, waterfalls, and reflective surfaces -- resembles the hip boutique hotels of New York and Los Angeles or the latest of Las Vegas’ posh ultralounges." (Benston took a "digital tour of three-dimensional video images of the resort’s final design.")
Here are some of the highlights as reported in Liz’ story: a 100,000-square-foot casino; a 500,000-square-foot mall, among the largest on the Strip; a 50,000-square-foot Golden Door spa, health club, and "meditative retreat"; a 116,000-square-foot ballroom, largest on the Strip, with removable stadium seating for big events such as tennis matches; a pool on the third floor overlooking the Strip; even a "chandelier dipping into a giant vase of water."
Other plans include a giant 450-foot-tall observation wheel, similar to the London Eye, and bringing the jazz festival to Las Vegas on an annual basis.
"Ruffin is also planning a boulevard of high-end boutiques on the south side of the resort facing the Fashon Show Mall. With shops on both sides of Fashion Show Drive, the street would become the Las Vegas version of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills," wrote Benston.
Construction might start before the New Frontier is razed, but all indications are that the old buildings will be gone by the end of this year.
