Fontainebleau continues to make news. First off, lead investor Steven Witkoff and his partners plan to re-name the unfinished resort. Good idea, as “Fontainebleau” brings nothing but bad karma 
and negative associations to anyone who frequents the Las Vegas Strip. While Witkoff’s business plan is as yet undisclosed, condos have been ruled out. (Good Idea #2) Fitch Ratings‘ analyst Alex Bumazhny agrees with our opinion that F-blew needs mass-market pricing and an immediate start on reconstruction, writing, “Properties that are closer to MGM properties and Caesars properties tend to do better on average daily rates … They probably want to open sooner rather than later to catch the current wave of the good economy.” Even so, Witkoff is still a long way from the ribbon cutting. As for the much-needed managerial expertise, both Station Casinos and Boyd Gaming would be logical, local choices but unless you’re going to call F-blue the “Stardust,” neither has brands that would sit logically on a megaresort — you can hardly call a big, blue building “Red Rock.”
F-blew isn’t Witkoff’s first venture into Las Vegas. No, that would be the Africa Israel “failsino” at the northeast corner of Harmon Avenue and Koval Lane, land that is empty to this day. Witkoff was a minority investor on a planned metaresort that would have taken the place of the planned W and Las Ramblas projects, neither of which got past the drawing board. That acreage came at a relative bargain — $10.4 million an acre, less than half of what Witkoff is paying for F-blue. The project ended as a massive write-off, its sole souvenir being a forlorn sign that wishfully proclaims that the acreage is “intended to be used for a casino-hotel.” Keep dreaming.
* If you think the federal government’s response to Hurricane Harvey has been tepid, that’s nothing to how you would feel if you were a Macanese, digging out from under Typhoon Hato. Anger at the government is reportedly running high, as Macao tries to 
support a First World economy with Third World infrastructure. Lawrence Ho has emerged as something of a local hero, not only for his his financial contributions but for diverting 2,000 construction workers toward typhoon relief. “When news leaked out that one [casino] operator had called for volunteers to clean its pool rather than diverting resources to help with the relief works, it was met with a typhoon of criticisms from the local community and among its employees,” writes Desmond Lam. This provoked a swell of anger, expressed on the offending company’s Web pages. Adds Lam, “A key factor in corporate social responsibility concept is to find a delicate balance between corporate resources, profit objectives, and, more importantly, social expectations.”
* There was good news for Boyd this week, as its managerial project, Wilton Rancheria, saw its compact approved by the California Legislature. The casino is expected to cost $400 million and hold 2,000 slots. Construction won’t start for another year and may take until mid-2020. Wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli, “it could be worth $20-30 mm of annual fee [cash flow] to BYD.”
* Las Vegas sports books may have dodged a bullet on the Mayweather/McGregor fight but they got blindsided by Howard University, which eked out a 43-40 victory over the University of Nevada-Las Vegas football team. The Rebels didn’t help themselves by being offside on the very first play, fumbling a ball 
that went for a Howard touchdown and by not getting their cheerleaders off the field in a timely fashion. Howard, a 45-point underdog, beat the spread by the largest margin in history as quarterback Caylin Newton, younger brother of Cam (talent runs in the family) shredded the Rebel secondary. Had you put a $100 wager on Howard to win, you’d have walked home with $55,000 in your pocket.
I love the idea of a resurrected Stardust!
Boyd operating as the Stardust would be pretty awesome.