The site has posted numerous pictures (like this one) of the construction and reports that construction crews have been "seen using jack hammers to chew away at those crazy concrete columns" meaning that the hotel could be a tear down before it has even opened.
Which isn't that surprising given all the drama with Gregory Peck and his PeckMoss development company which crashed and burned not too long ago. But to hack down a building that's half-way up is a big deal. Curbed has some ideas as to who or what could be behind this and commenters on the story are saying something was built wrong so they had to tear it down.
Either way, it's just another example of overzealous developers and feuding hoteliers who never seem to get the job done.
An Indiana hotel has recently got a new life after it closed down on Oct. 31, thanks to a new reality TV show, which will film celebrities as they try to become city police officers.
Sixty to 70 rooms at The Hotel Roberts in Muncie has been rented out by Tom Forman Productions through mid-January and the celebrities and television crews will have "exclusive" use of the hotel as they undergo 10 days of law enforcement training.
Furniture and draperies from most hotel rooms had been removed since the closing and stored on the facility's first floor, [the hotel's owner] said. "We had to quickly refurnish those rooms," he said. The hotel will maintain a "skeleton staff" of mostly housekeepers and maintenance workers....The hotel's kitchen and lounge, however, will remain closed.
However, despite the new guests whose recognizable names would not be released, Hotel Roberts will still remain closed to the public. Which may be a good thing, considering some of the reviews on TripAdvisor from a few years ago that complained of the hotel's dirty rooms and rude management.
It was a sad day yesterday for the 100 employees of the Holiday Inn South Beach Resort.
After 40 years of business, the place shut down for good to make way for the W South Beach Hotel & Residences. Little did we know this Holiday Inn was the first national hotel chain in Miami beach when it opened in 1966, giving hundreds of old New Yorkers a place to visit each winter.
The place was sold in 2004 to make way for the W South Beach but was still operating until yesterday. However, when we visited last Fall, W Hotels had pretty much taken over, plastering a giant sign over the Holiday Inn and setting up a sales office on the 12th floor.
Folks say demolition on the hotel is expected later this year. Which means to us that the W South Beach won't be ready until at least early 2008. And the hype goes on...
The $3 billion Related casino-hotel-condo project was to be backed by George Clooney, Rande Gerber would do the nightlife and Brad Pitt may have hopped in the mix as well.
Then Clooney went on Larry King Live and kept muttering "Mandatory Jackets." Soon rumors surfaced that the project was being pushed back. Finally, the whole thing fell to shambles.
Now, the Las Vegas Business Press analyzes what went wrong here and tries to find the answer as to how this project went from major news to a joke told at "local happy hours and dinner parties."
The biggest emerging factor for the demise is that it was too costly and didn't even offer views of the strip. Said one realtor:
The Las Ramblas concept and idea was beautiful, but it was too dense with 11 towers sandwiched between Hard Rock and the W. And it had no views of the Strip.
The property is expected to be sold within two weeks to Edge Resorts, the folks behind the W Las Vegas. Sadly, this is the third time developer Related has tried to break into Vegas and failed. But perhaps not all is lost. The lot is expected to sell at a higher price than when bought last year.
The Grand Casino Island View Hotel in Biloxi, MS, was demolished over the weekend and the site's new owner Harrah's plans on building a brand-spanking-new resort worth $1 billion.
The 11-year-old building had been damaged by Hurricane Katrina but was still salvagable. However, Harrah's had other ideas in mind. The new hotel will take at least a couple of years to build but Harrah's may have the casino part ready on another part of the site later this summer.
One of our tipsters weighs in on the developments:
It's highly likely that Harrah's will implode the adjacent Casino Magic tower as well. They just swapped a couple of dowdy riverboat casinos in Louisiana for the Casino Magic property in Biloxi.
Either way, Biloxi is making a slow comeback from Hurricane Katrina. The area was home to 12 casinos before the storm. Since then, three have reopened with five more expected before the year is out.
We sincerely hope that in the case of the closed-down PineIsle Hotel that one man's trash is another man's treasure, because we don't know who wants 200 19-inch color television sets.
Starting Friday the hotel will be auctioning off the final items from inside before being demolished to make way for a new resort.
On the inventory list is hotel beds with headboards and mattresses (but hopefully not bed bugs), toilets, light fixtures, cabinets and some outdated overhead and slide projectors.
Already one woman purchased an entire set of room furnishings which she plans on installing in her home as a memento.
We guess a hotel doesn't have to be like the Plaza Hotel to make a long-lasting impression on some people.
This is how we shall always remember the good times had at the Boardwalk Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. At 2:30 a.m. PST, the hotel left earth for the big hotel heaven in the sky after being imploded to make way for the gigantic Project City Center.
A construction source told a news team that 10 more Vegas hotels would bite the dust in the next few years, as a result of the city's desire to get rid of cheesy themed hotels.
So is it wrong to hope that Excalibur is one of those slated for demolition?
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by juliana
Remember the good old Las Ramblas days?
The Grand Casino Island View Hotel in Biloxi, MS, was demolished over the weekend and the site's new owner 
We sincerely hope that in the case of the closed-down PineIsle Hotel that one man's trash is another man's treasure, because we don't know who wants 200 19-inch color television sets.
