<P> Plans for the property were first announced in April 2004 . The developer, 3700 Associates, was a joint venture formed by David Friedman (a former Las Vegas Sands executive), Ian Bruce Eichner (a real estate developer), and Soros Fund Management . The developers purchased the site, an 8.5 - acre U-shaped parcel surrounding the Jockey Club timeshare building, for $90 million from a company controlled by New Frontier owner Margaret Elardi . Further details about the project, including the Cosmopolitan name, were released in November 2004 . </P> <P> The Cosmopolitan's design team was led by Friedmutter Group as executive architect, with Arquitectonica as the design architect for the building's themed exterior . The building was engineered by DeSimone Consulting Engineers . The interior design team included Digital Kitchen, Prophet, the Friedmutter Group, The Rockwell Group, Jeffrey Beers, Adam Tihany, and Bentel & Bentel . </P> <P> The resort was built on what used to be the parking lot for the Jockey Club . Because the Cosmopolitan occupies much of the parking lot, it was agreed that the Club residents could use part of the Cosmopolitan's parking garage . </P> <P> The Cosmopolitan was the second Las Vegas hotel, after The Palazzo, to feature an underground parking garage underneath the hotel . As a result, the parking garage was built first . In December 2007, work finished on the 70 - foot (21 m) hole for the parking structure, while other foundation work remained in progress . The hotel was originally planned to open and be operated by Hyatt as the Grand Hyatt Las Vegas . </P>

What used to be where the cosmopolitan is