No guts no glory is a popular saying, but then there are times where you have a lot of guts and still no glory lol! Just ask Hollywood blockbuster director Brett Ratner who recently lost millions in his Fontainebleau resort investments according to sources. Check it Out:
Brett Ratner – who directed the successful “Rush Hour” movies and “X-Men 3″ – lost on hisinvestment in the Fontainebleau resort in Las Vegas, but he has no hard feelings against his old pal Jeff Soffer, the high-living developer behind Fontainebleau ventures in Sin City and Miami.
“Brett fell victim to the real-estate crash,” a Miami insider said. “He invested with Jeff, his childhood friend, and lost.”
The original Miami Beach resort cost a reported $500 million to reopen last November and has had plenty of empty rooms despite offering big discounts. And in June, Soffer filed for bankruptcy protection on the all-new Vegas venture. The hotel was 70 percent complete when it filed for Chapter 11 status.
A spokesperson for Ratner told Page Six: “Jeff Soffer is a brilliant real-estate developer and a childhood friend whom Brett fully believes in. The difficulty that [Soffer] is facing is due to the unfortunate turn in the economy.”
But Soffer doesn’t seem to be reining in the spending. “The way Jeff runs around Miami with his supermodel girlfriend, you wouldn’t think he was facing a struggling empire,” said one South Beach insider.
The hotelier was expected to follow in the footsteps of his father, real-estate king Don Soffer. Instead, he’s become a Miami “laughingstock,” our source lamented.
Another insider dished, “Jeff splits his time between wining and dining girlfriend Elle Macpherson and racing foreign cars. He flies private jets everywhere. Clearly, he’s not worried about the economy.”
A rep for the hotel told us, “Fontainebleau Miami is a world-class resort. While the tough economy has created challenges that Jeff Soffer and his team are actively addressing, we will continue to provide an outstanding experience to our guests for many years to come.” Soffer was unreachable.
