Did MGM Buy the Cosmopolitan? | Las Vegas Advisor

Did I read somewhere, perhaps on LVA, that The Cosmopolitan was being bought by MGM? When will that happen? Or is it already a done deal?

On and off the market over the years, a deal for the 12-year-old Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas was struck in late September.

In a transaction that's considered emblematic of casino turnover these days, New York-based Blackstone, Inc., the global investment business, is selling the operations of Cosmo to MGM Resorts. For those, MGM will pay Blackstone $1.73 billion.

Meanwhile, the building and grounds are going to a Blackstone real-estate investment trust, in a partnership with two other investment groups, for $4 billion.

The total of $5.65 billion is a half-billion or so more than Blackstone's latest asking price.

MGM will lease the building for 30 years, with three 10-year options to renew, and pay $200 million in annual rent with 2%-3% annual rent raises.

Blackstone picked up the Cosmo from Deutsche Bank in 2014 for $1.8 billion and invested a few hundred million in upgrades; according to the Wall Street Journal, it's "the most profitable single asset in Blackstone's history."

For its part, MGM will now control the operations of the five casinos on the west side of the Strip between Flamingo Road and Tropicana Avenue. The deal is expected to close in the next few months, pending regulatory approval.

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timtanium Feb-01-2022

Anti Trust

Just curious, how are the few companies that own most of the strip not considered anti-trust/anti-competitive/monopolist behavior?

alohafri Feb-01-2022

MGM Control

Don't they control the operations of the eight casinos on the west side of Las Vegas Blvd between Flamingo and Russell?

Brent Feb-01-2022

Will it be integrated into MLife?

The real question for me is whether the Cosmo will be integrated into the "MLife Family" or will it continue to be a stand-alone property.

I love the Cosmo, and stay there more than anywhere. But if it goes MLife, I may have to find a new place. It is literally the worst, most inhospitable operator out there.

Frank Romano Feb-01-2022

@ Alohafri

The answer is mentioning ALL the 'casino' hotels that are located between Tropicana and Flamingo. ALL of them will be MGM properties. The Cosmo was the lone NON-MGM property. They do own more on the west side but the point is that every single Casino from Tropicana to Flamingo are ALL MGM now. That's crazy! The only 'Hotel' not MGM is the Waldorf(formerly Mandarin Oriental) and The Jockey Club.

Brent Feb-01-2022

@alohafri and @Francis Romano

Planet Hollywood, Paris, and Bally's (soon to be the Horseshoe)are all Caesar's properties, and they are all between the Trop and the Flamingo.

There are rumors that Caesars is going to sell Planet Hollywood, but right now those are just rumors.

On the other side of the street, MGM operates Bellagio, but it does not own it.

Roy Furukawa Feb-01-2022

Less Choice

I frequent MGM properties and they’re still better than Caesars Group, but I think the real problem is there’s less of a choice now with two huge operators on the strip. Wynn and Venetian are the last single operators of high end strip casinos.

Question of the Day - 01 February 2022

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