North Las Vegas Strip Real Estate Market Suggests Developer Enthusiasm

Posted on: April 11, 2022, 08:35h. 

Last updated on: April 13, 2022, 09:24h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

The northernmost part of the Las Vegas Strip has for decades been a relatively quiet section of the world’s most famous casino drag. But recent property transactions in the area suggest a budding enthusiasm regarding its future.

Las Vegas Strip casino Siegel Group
The Siegel Group’s Siegel Select Convention Center extended-stay hotel on the Las Vegas Strip is pictured with the Fontainebleau in the background. Steve Siegel’s group recently paid $75 million to acquire vacant land next to the extended residency. (Image: The Siegel Group)

Las Vegas real estate tycoon Steve Siegel is one such developer who appears optimistic on the Strip’s northern end. His namesake firm — The Siegel Group — has been very active in the area. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that The Siegel Group last week closed on a roughly 10-acre parcel of vacant land for $75 million.

The property is adjacent to Resorts World at Convention Center Dr. and Las Vegas Boulevard. The newly purchased 10 acres butts up against the Siegel Select Convention Center, an extended stay, budget-friendly apartment rental complex. Siegel’s real estate firm specializes in low-cost hotels and rental units.

With some 12 acres of land on the Strip’s northern end, the RJ’s Eli Segall asked Siegel what he has planned for the property and what might justify $7.5 million cash per acre.

“We’re planning a trip to Dubai to get some ideas,” Siegel answered.

Possibilities include a new casino resort, residential condo units, and retail shopping. The Siegel Group in late March agreed to sell The Artisan Hotel for $11.9 million. The boutique hotel is located along Sahara Avenue at I-15.

Pedestrians Needed

The Strip’s northern end, which is typically classified as anything north of Wynn, is where most pedestrians opt to turn around. As a result, Las Vegas Blvd. is typically desolate of much foot traffic compared with the same street just quarter-mile south.

The absence of pedestrian visitors has been blamed for Sahara’s struggles, which reverted back to its iconic identity in 2019 following a financially disastrous five-year run as SLS Las Vegas.

The short-lived Lucky Dragon just west of the Strip on Sahara Avenue managed to stay in business less than two years after being built at a cost of $165 million. The Asian-focused casino was financed through the US government’s EB-5 visa program. That provides permanent citizenship to foreigners in exchange for a domestic investment of at least $550,000 into a business that employs a certain number of people in a high-unemployment area.

However, SLS and Lucky Dragon met their fates long before Resorts World greatly changed the Strip’s landscape. The $4.3 billion integrated resort has given pedestrians sightseeing the Strip a reason to continue on past Wynn, which isn’t the troubled Sahara or STRAT observation tower.

Major Draw Looming

Another reason why Siegel might be bullish on the Strip’s north section is the planned opening of the long-stalled Fontainebleau. The property’s 67-story hotel has been a towering reminder of the 2008 Great Recession for more than a decade.

But Koch Real Estate Investments and Jeffrey Soffer, the latter being the man who originally envisioned the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, acquired the property in February of 2021 for an undisclosed sum. Soffer is the son of Donald Soffer, who purchased the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami in 2005.

Koch and the younger Soffer plan to finish the Fontainebleau Las Vegas and open the casino resort in late 2023. Siegel says the 10 acres his group acquired at $7.5 million per represented good value compared with vacant land prices in recent years.

“It’s very hard to find land like this on the Strip,” Siegel concluded.