Fontainebleau bankruptcy judge: bad timing

Miami bankruptcy Judge A. Jay Cristol, who is presiding over the Fontainebleau Las Vegas case, took a tour of the unfinished project, which developer Jeffrey Soffer launched in 2007 as a spinoff of his Fontainebleau Miami Beach. The Florida property was undergoing a $500 million renovation at the time. Soffer filed for Chapter 11 protection after $2 billion in construction funding got the Las Vegas hotel only a little more than half-way to completion. On his tour, the judge praised the project as “magnificent,” saying that had the $500 million renovation happened two years earlier or two or three years later, it would, in all likelihood, have succeeded. Casino operator Penn National Gaming has offered substantially’ less than $300 million for the unfinished project, said lawyer Scott Baena, who represents Soffer. [Miami Herald]