but soon after Elad Group of Israel (they own the famed Plaza in NY) paid Phil Ruffin $33 million an acre, closed the Frontier and blew up the old joint (11/'07), the credit markets took a dive and froze up. The original plan was to build a replica of the NY Plaza there as part of a $5 billion (yes billion) project.

They got as far as going to court against the old downtown Plaza over the use of the name, but there was no way to fund the project. So it sits there as another empty lot and Steve Wynn cries about it being an eyesore for Wynn/Encore guests.

Earlier this year, there was a report that Sheldon Adelson might have been trying to buy the property but heard nothing more about that. And not sure with the issues that LV Sands has on the financial end, they could have done anything anyway. They have a stalled Strip project as well.

It may very well be years before anything goes in that spot.