[font=Verdana]The Fontainebleau Resort will close its two main buildings Sunday, including its signature elliptical Chateau tower. The closure of 876 rooms will leave the [/font][font=Verdana]Miami Beach[/font][font=Verdana] resort -- the largest in [/font][font=Verdana]South Florida[/font][font=Verdana] -- with 462 rooms in a new condo-hotel tower. The hotel expects to reopen the rooms after two years of extensive renovations, including the demolition of its famed 1962 Spite Wall building and construction of a new tower.[/font]

[font=Verdana]Monday marks the final check-out for the two buildings. Almost 700 workers will lose their jobs, though most are expected to find work elsewhere in the labor-hungry hospitality industry. The resort's partial closure has caused [/font][font=Verdana]Miami Beach[/font][font=Verdana] to lose two large conventions and has tourism officials predicting a challenging year for recruiting meetings to the area.[/font]