Developer of Las Vegas projects walks away from deadly helicopter crash

Jeffrey Soffer, the Miami businessman behind some of the largest developments in Las Vegas, is reported to have suffered minor injuries Thanksgiving day in a helicopter crash that left one person dead.

The Miami Herald reported that after the crash in the Bahamas, 150 miles from the Florida coast, Soffer walked away from the wreckage with bruises and was taken to the University of Miami Hospital for evaluation.

Reuters reported the helicopter crashed near the exclusive Baker’s Bay Golf and Ocean Club on Great Guana Cay, leaving an American dead. The name of that person wasn’t immediately released.

In Las Vegas, Soffer and his companies are known for developing the high-rise condominium-tower developments Turnberry Place, Turnberry Towers and the Residences at MGM Grand — now called the Signature at MGM Grand.

He and his companies also developed the Town Square shopping center at Las Vegas Boulevard and I-215, as well as the stalled $2.9 billion Fontainebleau casino-resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

During the past few years, Soffer has been engaged in extensive litigation with lenders over both the Fontainebleau Las Vegas bankruptcy and a move in 2011 by creditors owed $513 million to seize Town Square.

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