Elara

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Lore & Background

The property now known as Elara originated from failed plans for the Aladdin Music Project in 1998. After Aladdin Gaming ended its partnership due to funding concerns, The Athena Group LLC acquired the five-acre parcel in November 2000 with hopes of building a 35-to-40-story complex. By August 2001, those plans were cancelled. In June 2003, Robert Earl purchased the Aladdin resort and revived development talks with David A. Siegel of Westgate Resorts. By April 2005, they finalized details for a 52-story tower, initially budgeted at $400 million but ultimately costing $660 million. Groundbreaking occurred on January 19, 2006, and the structure was topped off on July 2, 2008, in a ceremony attended by Sylvester Stallone and Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons.

In Their Own Story

PH Towers opened with a soft opening for residents on December 18, 2009, followed by hotel guests on December 28. The building contained exactly 1,201 units, including 28 penthouses; approximately 200 were designated as timeshares while the remainder served as rooms for the Planet Hollywood resort. Owned by Westgate Resorts and operated by Earl's Planet Hollywood International, Inc., the tower faced financial strain during the Great Recession. In November 2011, Resort Finance America LLC acquired a controlling interest, appointing Hilton Grand Vacations Company to manage sales and rebrand the property. On March 1, 2012, the tower was officially renamed Elara. The building was featured in the 2012 documentary The Queen of Versailles and later became known as 'Elara by Hilton Grand Vacations' by 2017.

Reader's Guide

To locate Elara, one must look to 80 East Harmon Avenue in Paradise, Nevada, rather than any fantasy map. It stands on a four-acre site that was once occupied by temporary construction trailers for the Aladdin resort before being sold to The Athena Group in 2001. Construction began in early 2006 with Bovis Lend Lease overseeing the build and Tutor-Saliba Corporation acting as the contractor. A legal dispute arose when Tutor-Saliba filed a $19.3 million lawsuit against Westgate Resorts in May 2010 for unpaid construction costs. The Clark County District Court ruled in their favor in 2013, a decision upheld by the Nevada Supreme Court in May 2017. The tower remains the first timeshare project connected to a major casino resort and once held the sign with the largest letters on the Las Vegas Strip.

Did You Know?

• The tower was topped off on July 2, 2008, with guests including actor Sylvester Stallone and Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons.
• Construction costs for the single completed tower reached $660 million, exceeding the initial $400 million estimate.
• Plans for two additional towers were cancelled after the first tower opened in December 2009.
• The property was renamed Elara on March 1, 2012, following its acquisition by a new ownership group and partnership with Hilton Grand Vacations.
• A lawsuit filed by contractor Tutor-Saliba Corporation against Westgate Resorts resulted in a $19.3 million judgment upheld by the Nevada Supreme Court in May 2017.