A New Plan for Vegas' New Frontier

The Plaza Hotel may be coming to Las Vegas. And rooms will certainly be pricey.

Elad Properties, the Israeli-owned real estate investment group that is deep into an extensive renovation of the landmark hotel in New York City, is about to announce that it is purchasing the New Frontier Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Sources say the purchase price could be as sky-high as $40 million per acre -- or $1.5 billion for the 38.5-acre site.

If the deal is consummated, it is a sure bet that the Frontier -- which opened in 1942 and has been in continuous operation ever since -- will finally close and disappear, as did its nearby cousin, the Stardust, last week. The site will become one of several new megadevelopments, including the Stardust, Sahara and Echelon, being planned or under way on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip.

Outdoing them all in pacing and planning is the category-killer: MGM's (MGM Quote) 66-acre, $7 billion CityCenter development, which is proceeding at a rapid clip after selling out its first several hundred units. Its scale -- in combination with the slowdown in the marketplace -- has basically slowed or stopped many other Las Vegas projects in their tracks.

Not Elad, apparently. Elad's plans for the property were not available, and representatives of the company declined to comment, but reliable local sources in Las Vegas and in New York confirmed that a deal is at hand, although the price could not be verified.