Last updated: February 07, 2024
Despite a slow start, Tilman Fertitta’s ambitious casino hotel project on the Las Vegas Strip is finally gaining momentum, suggesting an imminent shift in development pace.
New documents filed with Clark County show that the billionaire’s business has asked for several permits this year for 6.2 acres of land at Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue. Plans for a parking garage and a pickleball court are on those permit applications, which are still being looked at by the county. In 2022, Fertitta, who runs the Golden Nugget casino empire, paid $270 million for land.
The Clark County Commission agreed with Fertitta’s plans to build a new casino across the street from MGM Resorts’ CityCenter in October of last year. Some of the businesses that were on the land have since been asked to leave, but some are still there.
Fertitta Entertainment, based in Houston, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that at this time there are no updates to share.
It’s not a surprise that the Fertitta Strip Casino has been moving slowly.
It’s not a surprise that Fertitta’s first attempt at the Strip is taking a while to develop. The company said earlier this year that it would wait and see how the economy as a whole changed before spending a lot of money on the Las Vegas project.
Being careful paid off because, even though the U.S. economy isn’t officially in a recession, there are more and more signs that now isn’t the best time to start commercial real estate projects from scratch. Raw material prices are going up because of high inflation, and it’s hard to find workers.
Also, because interest rates are the highest they’ve been in 20 years, it costs companies more to borrow money. In the same way, some lenders aren’t eager to lend money for commercial real estate right now. Fertitta Entertainment seems smart to have taken its time with the Strip project when you look at everything together.
Also, the company needs to make sure that its Strip venue is up to par since it will be close to fancy venues like Aria, Paris, and Vdara if it goes ahead.
There is already some Fertitta in the Strip because he bought a 6.1% stake in Wynn Resorts (NASDAQ: WYNN) last year. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has not received any new documents that show he has changed that stake.
Fertitta Entertainment also cares about Nevada. For example, it recently bought the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe and changed its name to the Golden Nugget. The third Golden Nugget casino in the state is now open. The other two are in downtown Las Vegas and Laughlin.
The other Golden Nugget casinos are in Colorado, Danville, Illinois, Lake Charles, Louisiana, Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Biloxi, Mississippi.
Marilyn Chavez is an associate researcher at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, where she studied the mathematical probabilities and aspects of casino games like slot machines. She’s written several case studies which have been published by multiple problem-gaming institutions to help spread awareness about the dangers of online gambling and gambling addiction. She also presented a 2019 Ted talk on the topic of gambling among minors.
