In a recent earnings call, executives of Station Casinos, a Red Rock Resorts subsidiary, shared plans for a new casino hotel on 71 acres in the Las Vegas Valley. Groundbreaking is scheduled for early 2022, and the project will take 18 to 24 months for completion.
The casino will feature 100,000 square feet of gaming floor, Chief Financial Officer Stephen Cootey told investors. “We are working through the planning and budgeting phases of this project with a goal and expectation to have a shovel in the ground in the first quarter of 2022.”
The effort is known as the Durango project and will include 2,000 slot machines, 40 tables games, more than 200 hotel rooms and suites, a “state-of-the-art” sportsbook and four full-service food and beverage offerings, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Station Casinos CEO Frank Fertitta III said he may have details on the investment amount in a third-quarter earnings call.
Station Casinos has owned the plot of desert land since 2000, reported the Review-Journal, but has was foiled in an earlier attempt to develop it by the Great Recession.
“Our primary focus right now is really down on Durango, which we think is a great development opportunity and the most underserved part of the Las Vegas Valley,” Fertitta said of the property, which will have no gaming competition within five miles.
J.P. Morgan gaming analyst Joseph Greff said he anticipates the total cost for the development to be roughly $400 million, with $150 million to be spent next year. “The area is fast growing, with a high-income population base, large gaming demographic, and zero competition for five miles,” he wrote in the note.
As the company shifts attention to new developments, Station has no timetable for potentially reopening one of its three closed properties. Fertitta said the company will consider opening a property “if and when we think they can add to the absolute profitability of the company going forward.”
Fiesta Rancho, Fiesta Henderson and Texas Station have yet to welcome back guests since closing because of the pandemic last March. The Palms, which is being sold to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, also remains closed.
