Las Vegas – One of the developers planning to build a USD 5 billion casino resort modeled after the Plaza Hotel in New York says they have agreed in principle with lenders to extend a loan used to buy the land.

Israeli-based Property and Building Corp. said in a Thursday statement that Elad IDB, a joint venture with New York-based Elad, has received an extension to repay a USD 625 million loan until August 2012.

Elad IDB, which owns the site on the Las Vegas Strip, bought the land in August 2007 from Kansas billionaire Phil Ruffin for USD 1.24 billion. The site used to be home to the New Frontier hotel-casino.

A spokesman for Elad had no comment on the agreement when contacted by The Associated Press.