On October 19, the Clark County Commission (CCC) gave the final nod of approval to Houston-based billionaire Tilman Fertitta’s proposed 43-story, 2,000-plus room hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip near the intersection of Harmon Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.
Fertitta, who is the cousin of Red Rock Resorts’ owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, currently owns the Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas, but has tried for years to establish a presence on the vaunted Strip. The outspoken entrepreneur finalized his $270 million purchase of the six-acre plot on which he plans to build the new casino back in June.
Rebecca Miltenberger, an attorney and representative for the project, told the CCC during the hearing that all parties involved are “very excited to bring this project to fruition over the next two years,” and added that the end result will be a “high-end casino resort.”
Following the vote, however, Milterberger declined comment to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and did not give any details as to when the demolition and construction processes will begin. The site currently features a number of existing buildings, including a Travelodge motel, that will need to be torn down to make way for the new project.
Jeffries’ gaming analyst David Katz asserted in a previous interview with the Review-Journal that such a project would be considered a “big-ticket” development, and would likely cost $3 billion or more to build.
That’s certainly a steep price, but one that Fertitta could stomach—the 65-year-old mogul controls a nationwide empire of restaurant brands, as well as the Houston Rockets NBA franchise, which was recently valued at a conservative figure of $2.75 billion by Forbes.
