Deutsche Bank will be glad to sell
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas could soon have a new owner. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada’s Gaming Control Board has recommended that the Blackstone Group be licensed to run the megaresort, which has a 100,000-square-foot casino.
The Cosmopolitan, which cost almost $4 billion to construct, was conceived before the recession, opened after the recession, and has never turned an annual profit. It is located on an 8.7-acre parcel between Bellagio and CityCenter on the Las Vegas Strip.
“We think there is a lot of opportunity to bring the property to its full potential,” said Tyler Henritze, one of three controlling owners in Blackstone. So far, despite lagging casino revenues, nightlife and the restaurant side have done well at the resort; some 80 percent of its revenue from the hotel and F&B, says Henritze.
Blackstone representatives told the Control Board the company will add another restaurant and renovate the four-year-old casino to boost gaming revenue.
“We’re excited by the potential of this hotel,” said Blackstone owner Jonathan Gray. “We plan to bring to bear all the experience we have with other assets. For us, this is an exciting opportunity to do something special. We’re bullish on Las Vegas.”
The private equity investment fund, based in New York, owns real estate including hundreds of private homes in Nevada, and also has a small stake in Caesars Entertainment, reported the Review-Journal. In May it made an offer to buy the resort from Deutsche Bank for $1.73 billion. The German bank was always a reluctant owner; it took control of the 2,995-room hotel after the original developer defaulted.
Commissioners will discuss the licensure at their next meeting, on December 18.
