a mechanical bull, a dance hall, and live music. The saloon opened in December 1998. Ruffin got the idea for the restaurant after seeing the 1980 film Urban Cowboy, which had featured the Gilley's Club in Texas, along with its mechanical bull. Ruffin subsequently partnered with country singer Mickey Gilley to open the saloon, inspired by the original club. Gilley's later offered bikini bull-riding and mud wrestling. Ruffin intended to rebrand the hotel as a Radisson, and renovated the guest rooms to bring them up to standard. However, in 1999, he decided against this idea as he now had other plans for the property. In January 2000, Ruffin announced plans to demolish the New Frontier in five or six months to make way for a new casino resort, scheduled to open in 2002. The new project, known as City by the Bay, would include a San Francisco theme and more than 2,500 rooms. Ruffin said the new resort was necessary to stay competitive on the Las Vegas Strip. The project would cost up to $700 million. He put his redevelopment plans on hold in May 2000, because of difficulty raising the necessary funds. Ruffin said the project would eventually proceed. The New Frontier continued operations in the meantime, and remained profitable. In 2002, Ruffin partnered with Trump to build Trump International Hotel Las Vegas. It was constructed on the Frontier property's southwest corner, taking up part of a rear parking lot. Meanwhile, Ruffin still had difficulty acquiring funds to build City by the Bay, and his plans evolved several times over the years. At one point, Ruffin considered a Trump-branded resort to replace the New Frontier. In 2003, Ruffin was in discussions with several casino operators about a possible joint venture for a new resort on the Frontier site. At the end of 2004, he said he would redevelop the New Frontier site on his own, stating that he had turned down a dozen offers from potential partners. By 2006, Ruffin's unnamed resort project was planned to include a 485-foot Ferris wheel. Later that year, Ruffin announced that the new casino resort would be named Montreux, after the Swiss town of the same name. The $2 billion resort would include 2,750 rooms. However, by March 2007, Ruffin was in negotiations to sell the New Frontier to El Ad Properties, which owned the Plaza Hotel in New York City. A sale