Question of the Day - 27 March 2022

Building a casino at Durango and the Beltway has been an on and off priority for Station for more than 20 years and the economic forces are converging to make it an imperative. The southwest corner of the Beltway is probably the most underserved part of the Las Vegas Valley when it comes to gambling, with no full-service casino for literally miles around. This is in spite of the fact that it's the fastest-growing part of the valley, with a population density that is double that around (far more expensive) Red Rock Resort.

Durango Station is also cheek by jowl with the $400 million UnCommons mixed-used development, which will offer everything from fitness studios to office space. Also near is Evora, a $500 million mix of residences and commercial property. An Ashley Furniture megastore is slated for the area, as is a luxury gymnasium, Life Time. Finally, the Durango Station site will sit right on the highway, enabling it to potentially capture a lot of drive-in traffic, in addition to the inevitable lookie-loos. And the residential demographic is definitely upscale. 

Add all that up and Station execs hear the sound of cash registers ringing.

As for Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho, and Fiesta Henderson, the first two are in North Las Vegas, whose economic recovery has lagged the rest of the area. Plus, the demographic there is decidedly downscale. Station has plans for the Henderson area, but they evidently don’t include the Fiesta. Besides, Station has repeatedly told investors that it has exported the customer bases to other of its casinos, effectively making them redundant. It’s also spoken of them as potential asset sales, although without their gaming entitlement. (The age of the properties may also make them unappealing to Station for reopening.)

In Henderson, Station is going upscale, reviving its 45-acre project for the master-planned Inspirada community. CEO Frank Fertitta III told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the company is “actively working” on that southeast-valley proposal.

Station is also looking beyond Red Rock to the far northwest valley, where it owns 47 acres in Skye Canyon. “Both communities ranked among the top 25 nationally for homebuilders’ sales last year, with 741 new-home sales in Inspirada and 655 in Skye Canyon,” according to the R-J.

So you see, there’s method to what Station is doing, not madness.