Targeting a mature crowd
Timeshare developer David Siegel of Westgate Resorts plans to invest big in his newest property, the LVH Las Vegas Hotel and Casino.
No terms of the deal have been disclosed, but the purchase price is believed to be in the $150 million to $170 million range, reported the Las Vegas Sun. Siegel?who owns 28 resorts in nine states?says he’s ready to spend more than twice that million to return the property to its former splendor.
The revamped property “will be a hybrid” of timeshares and hotel rooms, Siegel told the Sun. He hopes to attract an “older crowd,” the 30-to-60-year old demographic.
“We’re not going after the kids. We had that at the Planet Hollywood beach tower, and they came in hauling their coolers and their six packs, cases of beer,” said Siegel.
Though he said “everything in life is a gamble,” Siegel added that the purchase of LVH is a pretty sure thing. “It’s a very good calculated business risk,” said Siegel. “I like the odds here?we know what we can do out here. … We expect probably $200 million to $300 million a year in sales.”
He also said he is committed to keeping employees on the job, though it would probably be easier to start from scratch. “The easiest way to completely redo this is to shut it down and put 2,000 people out of work,” Siegel told the Sun. “I don’t want to put 2,000 families out of work. It’s going to be more difficult; we’re going to have to work around an ongoing operation … It’s going to cost more doing it that way instead of bringing in a big crew and just knocking it all out, but we’re going to save those 2,000 jobs.”
The property’s 74,000-square-foot casino includes Las Vegas’ largest race and sports book, known as the SuperBook, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. It will be renovated with new TVs and seating.
The Navegante Group will continue to run the casino. LVH was first built in 1969 by Kirk Kerkorian. At the time the property, known as the International, was the largest hotel in the world with 3,261 rooms.
