Crown Ltd and its partners have abandoned plans to build the world's tallest casino in Las Vegas after failing to secure enough investment in the project. The partners were unable to come up with enough money before the expiration of their option to purchase an 27.5-acre plot of land at the north end of the Las Vegas Strip.
Crown Ltd, of which Australian billionaire James Packer owns 38 percent, is forced to write off $44 million it had contributed to the joint venture to purchase the land.
"The recent upheavals in world credit markets has made it increasingly difficult for Crown and its partners to develop a commercially viable project on what remains an attractive location on the Las Vegas Strip," Rowen Craigie, chief executive of Crown Ltd told the Guardian.
"Accordingly, we took the decision to stop making further payments to the vendors of the site and concentrate our focus on other areas of our business."
Crown's partners in the venture were Texas property developer Christopher Milam and private equity firm York Capital Management.