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See how Las Vegas has changed over the years. The north end of the Las Vegas strip used to be full of budget resorts. Then Steve Wynn dared to put up Wynn and Encore across the street from the Frontier. The budget properties Riviera, Frontier, Stardust, and Westward Ho are long gone. All that remains of the north strip budget resorts are Circus Circus, Sahara (which renamed itself SLS for a few years) and Stratosphere. (Stratosphere is north of Sahara Ave. and is therefore not technically on "the strip".) Fontainebleau went up across the street from Circus Circus in 2011 and never opened until December 2023. It is a sister property to Fontainebleau Miami Beach, and sits on the 24.5-acre site previously occupied by the El Rancho Hotel and Casino and the Algiers Hotel. It has 63 floors and 3,644 rooms. In 2010, Cosmopolitan and City Center set the tone for the new upscale center strip with the Aria, Vdara, and Mandarin Oriental (which is now Waldorf Astoria) resorts, multimillion dollar condominiums, and Crystals Mall; which is so upscale they don't even have a Nordstrom or Saks Fifth Avenue. The decline of the north strip and construction of Project City Center essentially moved the center strip south from Flamingo Rd. to Harmon Ave. This shift will change again as the north strip is revived. Resorts World International is finally complete on the old Stardust property. New resorts should appear soon in the big empty lots where Westward Ho and Frontier used to be. The 1990s saw a lot of budget resorts and mid-level properties being constructed, the 2000s have so far seen mostly upscale luxury resorts being built. Las Vegas constantly changes. Marijuana is now legal in Nevada and can be purchased at various stores along the tourist strip. The Covid19 pandemic slowed down progress in 2020.