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Quick answer: The Tahoe Biltmore Lodge & Casino in Crystal Bay, Nevada, closed for good at 5 a.m. on April 30, 2022. A planned Waldorf Astoria resort on the site stalled after the developer defaulted on its loan, and the lender, Lake Tahoe Partners LLC, took the property back at a trustee sale in July 2025. As of October 2026, no new construction timeline has been announced, and the old main lodge is still standing.
If you’ve driven Highway 28 from Kings Beach into Nevada, you’ve passed the Tahoe Biltmore. It sits right at the state line in Crystal Bay, across the highway from the Crystal Bay Club, under a tall roadside sign that went up in 1962.
For about 75 years, the Biltmore was a hotel, a casino, a showroom and, for a lot of locals, the place to get a cheap breakfast. Here’s how it started, who ran it, and where things stand now.
Gambling at the State Line
Crystal Bay grew up because of the border. Gambling was legal on the Nevada side, and once the Brockway Highway, today’s State Route 28, was finished in 1931, drivers could reach Nevada’s North Shore much more easily.
By the mid-1940s, four major resorts lined this short stretch: the Cal Neva Lodge, the Cal Vada Lodge, the Ta-Neva-Ho, which later became the Crystal Bay Club, and the Tahoe Biltmore.
A line marks the California–Nevada border through a fireplace at the Cal Neva, just down the road from the Biltmore in Crystal Bay (September 2010). Photo: inkknife_2000 / CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The Builders
The Tahoe Biltmore was the project of Joseph and Nathan Blumenfeld, brothers who owned movie theaters around the San Francisco Bay Area. The original 1946 plans list Nathan Blumenfeld and Harold Wyatt, a San Francisco attorney, as owners.
They hired Bernard G. Nobler, a San Francisco theater architect, to design a four-story building with the casino entrance facing the highway and the hotel entrance on the other side.
The opening date depends on whom you ask. The Biltmore itself counted from 1946, which is why its farewell marquee in 2022 thanked the community for 76 years. Newspaper reports from the time put the grand opening on June 30, 1948, after construction stalled and contractors sued over unpaid work.
Early Owners and New Names
The Blumenfelds’ casino didn’t take off. A history of the property written in 1986 says its success fell short of expectations, and newspaper reports from 1949 describe the hotel closing and going into bankruptcy.
In 1952, Sanford “Sandy” Adler, who ran the busy Cal Neva across the highway, took over the Biltmore and renamed it the Cal Neva Biltmore. If you’re curious about its famous neighbor, read our story on the Cal Neva.
In 1956, Adler sold to three former partners in a New York advertising agency. They lasted about a year before selling in 1957 to Lincoln Fitzgerald and his wife, Neta, of Fitzgerald’s in Reno.
The Nevada Lodge Years
Fitzgerald remodeled the hotel and casino and renamed it the Nevada Lodge in 1958. Under his ownership, it grew and became a center of North Shore social life.
The Nevada Room hosted the annual Snow Ball and the Miss Sierra Snowflake Pageant, with Regis Philbin and Soupy Sales among the emcees. Early-1960s headliners on its stage included Phyllis Diller, Rowan and Martin, Helen O’Connell and Rudy Vallee.
Business was good enough that the Fitzgeralds took over Joby’s Monte Carlo, the small club next door, for more room. In 1962, they put up the roadside sign, a round marquee on a tall wooden tripod that Moonshine Ink describes as a nod to flying saucers and Seattle’s Space Needle.
In the mid-1960s, they opened a second showroom, the Topaz Room, for a French revue called Vive Les Girls. It was unlike anything the North Shore had seen, and it ran for about five years.
Lincoln Fitzgerald died in 1981, and his wife kept running the Nevada Lodge.
The Biltmore Name Returns
In 1986, the Nevada Lodge sold for $8 million to a group that owned the Crystal Bay Club, and the new owners brought back the Tahoe Biltmore name. In 2001, the Sierra Sun reported a $3 million remodel by Wilday Architects that was meant to bring back the building’s 1940s Old Tahoe lodge details. The plans also included a new wedding chapel.
Over the years, the Biltmore’s wedding chapel hosted generations of weddings. The new owners had a hard road, though, as South Lake Tahoe grew into the lake’s dominant resort, casino and winter sports center. The Biltmore also collected ghost stories, most famously about Mary. Legend says she was a showroom performer who died in a car accident in the 1960s, and guests and employees have reported seeing a faceless woman in a 1960s-style miniskirt.
For locals, the Biltmore meant something simpler. General manager Tyler Gaffaney told KRNV in 2022 that he remembered the $1.99 breakfast in the café, and that his parents were married there in the 1970s. Staff said the year-round jobs let them live in Tahoe full time, which is hard to do on seasonal work.
Over the years, people tried to get the building a historic designation. According to Moonshine Ink, that effort failed because the many remodels had left too few historic features.
The Closure
In 2007, Boulder Bay LLC bought the property for $28 million and planned a new casino resort with 366 rooms. The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency approved the plan in 2011, but it fell apart over financing.
In 2021, Newport Beach developer EKN bought the Biltmore for $56.8 million. The hotel threw a last hurrah on April 23, 2022, with live music, cash drawings and a memory wall where guests pinned up photos and notes. It closed its doors at 5 a.m. on April 30, 2022.
The Waldorf Astoria Plan
In December 2022, Hilton announced Waldorf Astoria Lake Tahoe on the 15-acre site, with 76 guest rooms and 61 branded residences, an upscale casino and an expected opening in 2027. In April 2023, TRPA approved a revised plan that cut the project’s density by 47 percent from the version approved in 2011.
Then the money ran out. EKN defaulted twice on the project’s $82 million loan, and on July 15, 2025, nine parcels tied to the project were sold at a trustee sale to the lender, Lake Tahoe Partners LLC, according to the Washoe County Recorder’s office.
TRPA told the Tahoe Daily Tribune that the project’s permit belongs to the site, not the developer, so a new owner could pick it up. If nobody moves forward, the agency said, the permit would expire in three years.
In early 2026, the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District fined the owner $3,150 for fire code violations at the vacant property, including combustible materials, unsecured buildings and blocked exits. The fines followed the expiration of the property’s demolition permits, the Tribune reported, citing Washoe County permit records. As of October 2026, we haven’t found any announcement of new construction plans.
Where to Stay and Play Nearby
The Biltmore is gone for now, but this corner of the North Shore is still worth a stop. The Crystal Bay Club, right across the highway, still has its casino and live music.
You can try going to Crystal Bay Casino featuring lots of fun games and entertainment!
For a place to stay, the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe in Incline Village is a short drive east along the lake. If you’d rather stay somewhere smaller, Cedar Glen Lodge in Tahoe Vista is a few minutes west on the California side.
Crystal Bay on Lake Tahoe’s North Shore (July 2005). Photo: Ken Lund / CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
FAQs
Q: Is the Tahoe Biltmore still open?
A: No. The Tahoe Biltmore Lodge & Casino closed for good at 5 a.m. on April 30, 2022, a week after a farewell party on April 23.
Q: Is the Waldorf Astoria Lake Tahoe still being built?
A: Not as of October 2026. The developer, EKN, defaulted on its loan, and the lender, Lake Tahoe Partners LLC, took back nine project parcels at a trustee sale on July 15, 2025. TRPA says the project permit stays with the site, but no new construction timeline has been announced.
Q: When did the Tahoe Biltmore open?
A: The Biltmore counted its history from 1946, and its farewell marquee thanked the community for 76 years. Newspaper reports from the time put the grand opening on June 30, 1948, after construction delays.
Q: What was the Tahoe Biltmore called before?
A: It ran as the Cal Neva Biltmore in the 1950s and as the Nevada Lodge from 1958 until 1986, when new owners brought back the Tahoe Biltmore name.
Q: Where can I stay near the old Tahoe Biltmore?
A: The Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe in Incline Village and Cedar Glen Lodge in Tahoe Vista are both a short drive away, and the Crystal Bay Club casino is still open across the highway.
About the author: Sherry Boyer
Sherry Boyer has lived in the Reno/Tahoe region for seven years, and she and her husband spent decades visiting Lake Tahoe several times a year before they moved here. With extended family around the lake, they spend their free time hiking the trails, boating on Lake Tahoe and Pyramid Lake, and fishing all over the area. Sherry writes Lake Tahoe Travel Tips to share the places they love with visitors.
