Some notes from perusing the papers while my tea cools.
Many papers today are reporting the fact that Harrahs Casinos has agreed to purchase the Imperial Palace Casino in Las Vegas. Perhaps the best coverage is in the Las Vegas Review Journal. The LVRJ notes that the purchase gives Harrahs six major resorts at the center of the Strip and room to grow. Basically, with this purchase, Harrahs ownes a continguous block of casinos (save for the Barbary Coast, owned by Boyd) on the east side of the strip from Harrahs to Paris (Harrahs, IP, Flamingo, Ballys, Paris), as well as Caesars across the street and the Rio. Don’t expect the IP to last for long. “This was, effectively, a vacant land purchase,” said Brian Gordon, a principal with Applied Analysis, a Las Vegas-based financial consulting firm. A major gaming analyst noted “There are no plans for substantial operational changes in the near term once ownership has transferred. However, we think in the medium term, it makes sense to completely redevelop, demolish or implode this … property. In fact, we would not be surprised to see this site be part of a major redevelopment for Harrah’s Las Vegas and the Flamingo. Stay tuned.”
So why does this interest me? After all, I don’t gamble. But I am into history, and Vegas is constantly rewriting their history. The days of the small low-rise resort along US 93 91 are gone. There is no more El Rancho Vegas, no Last Frontier, no Dunes, no Hacienda, no Sands, no Desert Inn. There’s nothing left of the old Flamingo at the Flamingo. The only “old Vegas” left is at the Trop, and Aztar is talking about redeveloping it. The IP stands on what was once the Flamingo Capri, and I expect that space to be merged into either Harrahs or the Flamingo.
By the way, note that the auto collection, which is owned by a third party, is not part of the transaction. That’s actually sad, as the founder of Harrahs was originally a collector of automobiles.
In other Vegas news, last week the LVRJ reported on the opening of the South Coast, a new Boyd property south of McCarren Airport. This is the first high-rise hotel-casino to be built south of the airport runways on Las Vegas Boulevard. It will have 1,350 rooms, a 80,000-square-foot casino, seven restaurants, a 16-screen movie theater, a 64-lane bowling alley, a fitness center, 150,000 square feet of meeting space and what is billed as one of North America’s finest equestrian centers. A professor from UNLV, discussing the new casino, noted that it will intensify Boyd’s competition with Station Casinos, the second leading locals gaming company. Part of the problem is that Station is not on the strip, whereas Boyd has the Stardust and the Barbary Coast. This analyst noted that Boyd’s next venture must be to firm up that presence with an implosion and a multiple-billion-dollar effort at the other end of the Strip. Folks have been expecting the Stardust land to be redeveloped for ages, so that wouldn’t surprise me. As for the Barbary Coast… the LVRJ notes that the only site missing from Harrah’s center Strip portfolio is the Barbary Coast, which sits on 4.4 acres at the corner of the Strip and Flamingo Road. A spokesman for Boyd Gaming said Monday that the company is not in negotiations with Harrah’s over a possible purchase of the Barbary Coast site.
And, speaking of Station, now for some news that will affect jumbach. According to the LVRJ, Station Casinos has increased the size of a Reno land parcel acquisition from 50 acres to 83. The extra land will give the company more room to develop a hotel-casino adjacent to a planned open-air retail complex. This project is near the intersection of the Mount Rose Highway and US 395 in southern Reno.
By the way, if you’re into this stuff, a good site to monitor is the Las Vegas Casino Death Watch. For example, this site reported in May that Boyds is thinking of redeveloping the Barbary Coast.
Well, my tea is drinkable, so it is off to work for me.
