LVH has 3,261 rooms
A shakeup is planned for the Las Vegas skyline as two resorts change brands, and in one case, ownership.
Timeshare king David Siegel, CEO of Westgate Resorts, is the new owner of the LVH Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. He plans to turn part of the hotel into a timeshare development.
And Caesars Entertainment announced last week that it will invest $223 million to overhaul the Quad, formerly the Imperial Palace, an aging 2,256-room hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. As of October 30, it will be known as the Linq Hotel & 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. It has a rich entertainment history; according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Barbra Streisand was the headliner when the hotel opened and Elvis Presley performed 58 sell-out shows there, breaking all concert records for the time.
Hilton Hotels bought the property in 1970, but cut ties with the hotel in 2012. The property was renamed Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, or LVH, and was owned by Goldman Sachs, which acquired it in a foreclosure on a $252 million loan, and Gramercy Capital.
About 200 of the nearly 3,000 rooms and suites will be converted to timeshares, while others will remain open to regular hotel guests. The property’s 74,000-square-foot casino includes Las Vegas’ largest race and sports book, known as the SuperBook, the Review-Journal reported. It will be renovated with new TVs and seating.
The property is managed by Las Vegas-based Navegante Group.
No terms of the deal were disclosed, but it is believed that the purchase price is $150 million to $170 million, reported the Las Vegas Sun.
Siegel said he has wanted to invest in Vegas for years, and once almost bought LVH. “I thought about it a long time. I guess you could say it was non-buyer’s remorse,” he said. He plans to welcome his new employees with a hug, he added. “That’s just the way I do business, it’s like a big family,” he told the Review-Journal.
The re-branding of the Quad, which had been re-branded from the Imperial Palace just two years ago, reflects Caesars confidence in its new Linq development, an indoor-outdoor retail, dining and entertainment corridor in the middle of the Strip. The Linq is anchored by a 550-foot-tall Ferris wheel, the High Roller, which opened in the spring.
Caesars says it will renovate the hotel with new stores, spa amenities and pool deck.
The “reimagined” hotel will offer “a complete lifestyle experience at one of the best locations in Las Vegas,” according to Tariq Shaukat, chief marketing officer at Caesars.
