Station Casinos wants to sell a large chunk of empty land it owns on Las Vegas Boulevard in the far south end of the valley, according to a brochure marketing the site to potential buyers.
The locals-focused gaming company is seeking a buyer for about 56 vacant acres on the northwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard South and Cactus Avenue, a brochure from the commercial real estate firm CBRE shows. It lists a price of $40 million.
CBRE says the site could potentially support a resort, mixed-use development or high-density residential project, but there’s a catch: It’s being sold with a deed restriction that bars gaming on the entire property.
A Station spokeswoman declined to comment.
Located on a relatively undeveloped stretch of most prominent street in the valley, the land Station wants to sell doesn’t have too many close neighbors. The South Point resort is about one mile north, while the M Resort is about two and a half miles south.
Years ago, it may have been an attractive spot for Station to consider one day building a new neighborhood casino. Now, perhaps, not so much.
“It’s one of those properties that would have been viable back in the day when M Resort was being built,” Union Gaming Group analyst Chris Jones said, referring to the time immediately before the recession. “I just don’t think there’s any appetite to build properties that far out at this point.”
The acreage on Las Vegas Boulevard, which Station has owned for about 10 years, is among many that the company has held onto for possible development. At the end of last year, Station held about 355 acres in the valley, about 100 acres in Reno and 34 acres in northern California, according to the company’s annual report with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“The company's decision whether to proceed with any new gaming or development opportunity is dependent upon future economic and regulatory factors, the availability of acceptable financing and competitive and strategic considerations,” Station said in the filing.
Station has also sold some of the land it owns in recent years, such as a 101-acre parcel in Reno last year, according to the securities filing.
The possible Las Vegas Boulevard land sale comes as the company prepares to become publicly traded again. Station said it was getting ready for an initial public offering last month, eight years after being taken private and four years after emerging from bankruptcy.
In a related securities filing, Station described itself as a market leader with a strong set of “strategically located” properties, including 19 large and small casinos in Southern Nevada. Station said its properties in the valley were “broadly distributed throughout the market and easily accessible,” and that 90 percent of the Las Vegas population was located within five miles of one of its businesses.
The company was bullish about the market for locals gaming.
“We believe that the Las Vegas regional market is one of the most attractive gaming markets in the United States due to favorable economic and market fundamentals,” the company said.
Among the factors that Station cited as pointing toward a recovery in the regional gaming market were above-average population and employment growth, a record number of visitors to Las Vegas and billions of dollars in active or planned development in the area.
Still, the registration statement admitted that other key metrics such as home prices and gaming revenues in the regional market “remain well below peak levels experienced prior to the recession.”
Jones said he would not view a sale of the Las Vegas Boulevard land as indication that Station was poorly set up for expansion heading toward the initial public offering.
“There’s going to be an appetite for them to grow,” he said. “I just think that would not be where the investment community would want them to grow.”