After the worst or at least one of the worst periods in Las Vegas history, Sin City has begun a spectacular comeback. Not only have visitors begun to flock back as the pandemic eases, but construction on a number of massive projects has begun.
The city, which saw its operations grind to a halt when Covid hit, now has $4.5 billion in new construction projects coming over the next two years.
That includes Caesars Entertainment (CZR) – Get Caesars Entertainment Inc. Report rebranding Bally's as the Horseshoe and MGM Resorts International (MGM) – Get MGM Resorts International Report selling the Mirage to Hard Rock International, which will build a Guitar Hotel on the property.
In addition to what the biggest players are doing, a lot of other major projects are in the works including Fontainebleau Las Vegas on the North Strip, a huge property featuring 3,780 hotel rooms and 550,000 square feet coming in late 2023; and the $1.9 billion MSG (MSGE) – Get Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. Class A Report Sphere at the Venetian, a 17,500-seat entertainment venue targeted for completion by the end of 2023.
The North Strip will also welcome a National-Basketball-Association-ready arena while Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics have been looking for stadium sites on and adjacent to the famed Las Vegas Strip.
Now, another long-planned project has broken ground.
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Red Rock Resorts (RRR) – Get Red Rock Resorts Inc. Report, which operates the Station Casinos brand, doesn't get the attention Caesars and MGM do. That's likely because the company — which operates 10 Las Vegas properties — targets locals. The company says that "over 90% of the Las Vegas population [is] located within five miles of one of our gaming facilities."
That makes Red Rock a player, albeit one that's not as high profile as its rivals because it's not advertising nationally. Nonetheless, the company has built a healthy business and it has just broken ground on a casino that will sit on a piece of land the company purchased more than 20 years ago.
"Construction is underway on its Durango hotel-casino, on Durango Drive just south of the 215 Beltway in the southwest valley, near Ikea. As seen last week, construction trailers, trucks, and heavy equipment were on-site," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
"Crews were doing site work, with no vertical structures taking shape yet. Clark County issued a permit for early grading Jan. 12 and a permit for final grading March 2, records show."
Red Rock does not build the megaproperties that Caesars and MGM have made famous on the Las Vegas Strip.
Durango will be a $750 million project with a 200-plus-room hotel, four restaurants, a resort-style pool, and more than 73,000 square feet of casino space.
Construction of the casino will take 18 to 24 months. It will be located off the 215 Expressway, near what Red Rock called the "fastest-growing population of any area in the Las Vegas Valley."
The property will also have what the company calls an "experiential race and sportsbook."
A new casino located off the Vegas Strip that's also not downtown does not have the cache of some of these other projects. But the Durango's construction speaks to the overall health of the city. Las Vegas needs resorts to wow tourists, but it also has a healthy market for locals, and this property should serve that audience well.
“Once again Stations, as a true locals casino, is coming to the rescue in the southwest, I’d say, by providing them a place where they can dine, where they can go hang out,” Bob Finch, chief operating officer for Station parent Red Rock Resorts, told the Review-Journal.