That’s a question that’s been on many people’s minds – and the subject of much speculation on our Stiffs & Georges blog. Sahara owner Sam Nazarian still maintains that he wants to redevelop the property into a hangout for wealthy SoCal twentysomethings and their ilk. However, there are a few obstacles. One is that Nazarian hasn’t applied for a gaming license. That means his SBE company can’t receive any revenue from the casino part of the Sahara operation. Not only did this make the Sahara unprofitable for SBE, but no future redevelopment of the site would pencil out unless Nazarian grits his teeth and submits to a Nevada Gaming Control Board background check.
Even if that happens, financing is still pretty tight and Nazarian is talking about what would be a multibillion-dollar redo of the Sahara. Worse still, the property is surrounded on three sides by empty land, including the former site of Wet n’ Wild. Further down the street, Fontainebleau is a half-finished derelict and looks unlikely to be completed. The former site of the Stardust is a fenced-off lot and the Sahara’s closest active neighbors are Circus Circus and the Riviera – hardly the market niche or neighborhood Nazarian wants to occupy.
Long story short, the Sahara is isolated and in a bad part of the Strip, so it doesn’t look like much of an investment at this point. Unless Nazarian is willing to take a steep loss on his purchase price (rumored to have been approximately $450 million), other casino operators are too strapped themselves to pick it up and none is known to have made an offer. Even though Nazarian’s going to have to pay property taxes on the Sahara and secure the area, making it a drag on his bottom line, the aging casino looks as though it will be in limbo for quite some time.
