The first Jewish hotel and temple on the Las Vegas Strip, once coveted by Steve Wynn
Finally plans for the Vegas Strip's first kosher hotel and its first synagogue and kosher restaurant have been submitted to Clark County for approval. However, as interesting as the planned King David Hotel is the history of this strange piece of land that the developers want to build on.
Proposed by Las Vegas developer Ray Korghli, the King David Hotel would have 486 rooms in a 648-foot-tall building similar in shape to the Citigroup Center in Manhattan.
In addition to the first synagogue and kosher restaurant on the Las Vegas Strip, plans submitted to Clark County would also include a kosher banquet facility and retail and meeting space.
Appeal to this
Creating a dedicated hub on the Las Vegas Strip is an idea Jewish leaders have wanted for years. The closest synagogue is Chabad of Southern Nevada, four miles from the Las Vegas Strip. Kosher dining on the Strip is limited to a handful of Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf restaurants within the resort, with the closest full kosher kitchen six miles away.
It's a long walk for the most observant of Jews, who adhere to strict Torah laws that prohibit them from driving on Saturdays or even using electricity.
When Orthodox Jews come to Las Vegas for a convention, pop-up prayer meetings and kosher kitchens can be organized. Last year, the Las Vegas Passover Shabbat was held during Passover at Resorts World.
But a permanent hotel on the Strip will make Las Vegas a year-round destination for Jewish tourism for the first time ever.
strange story
The King David will be built at 3601 Vegas Plaza Blvd., a very small, unique and strange building. It is located on a half-acre of land between and behind Phantom Island and Treasure Island, currently occupied by a low-rent apartment building that once housed Steve Wynn with his previous owners at the center of a fierce struggle.
While Steve Wynn bought all the land surrounding The Mirage in 1987 to realize his dream, Mike Flores and his family saw an opportunity to defraud the casino mogul out of a fortune worth far more than the estimated $291,870 their little piece of property was worth (including the building).
Flores' parents built the house in 1975 for $6 million on land they had owned for more than a decade.
Wynn countered with $2 million. When Flores rejected his offer, war broke out.
real pirate battle
Wynn buried three huge propane tanks just a few hundred feet away from Flores' villa. They're stocking up on fuel for "The Battle at Pirate's Cove," Treasure Island's free pirate show on the Las Vegas Strip.
In 1999, one of the tanks caught fire. Miraculously, the apartment's residents were not injured in the explosion or subsequent fire. It was ruled an accident, but Flores called it "an accident waiting to happen."
"Steve Wynn is to neighborly politics what Jeffrey Dahmer is to dining," Flores said at the time, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal Same etiquette.”
Flores fired back at Wayne's prow in the form of a proposed hotel of his own. But Wynn abandoned the idea of building a nine-story tower when he responded with a massive lawsuit, claiming the building was too large and violated multiple building codes.
Flores sold the land for $3.8 million in 2004, and Wynn sold the Mirage and Treasure Island hotels a few years later. Koroghli bought Villa De Flores in 2007 for $6.5 million.
Neither Treasure Island’s current owner, Phil Ruffin, nor the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which owns the Mirage and is transforming it into the next Hard Rock Las Vegas, would oppose a commercial building as large as King’s. With such proximity to their property, this question will surely be answered later in the approval process.
Although the proposal is on the agenda for the April 3 Clark County Zoning Commission meeting, the first public discussion of the proposal may be delayed until June as Clark County staff recommends some minor changes.
Cololi did not respond to a voicemail seeking comment for this story.
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Source: www.casino.org
