City of Henderson, Nevada, May Buy Former Fiesta Casino Site for $32M

Posted on: December 8, 2022, 09:32h. 

Last updated on: December 9, 2022, 02:26h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

The city of Henderson, Nev. may buy the former Fiesta Henderson casino site for $32 million. The Henderson City Council is mulling whether to acquire the 35 acres from Red Rock Resorts. A vote is on the agenda for its Tuesday, Dec. 13 meeting. The purchase could result in a small sports facility.

The cost would be significantly under the property’s appraised value of $56.4 million, according to city documents, which noted that most of the funds would come from Henderson’s Redevelopment Agency.

Fiesta Henderson teardown
The Fiesta Henderson gets demolished in September 2022. The City of Henderson is mulling whether to acquire its 35 acres to build a recreation facility. (Image: reddit)

Henderson officials are eyeing the property – on West Lake Mead Parkway near the 215 Beltway – for an indoor recreational facility that could include basketball and volleyball courts, as well as baseball and softball diamonds. At the city’s request, Fiesta Henderson’s parking garage has not been demolished.

There is no cost or time line for the project.

Red Rock Trading Up

Red Rock, a locals-focused Las Vegas casino chain, never reopened its Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho, or Texas Station properties following the COVID-19 lockdown. According to its research, despite the popularity of the casinos, their customers switched over to other Station casinos. So the company opted to demolish the properties and sell the land to buyers who, as part of the deal, promised not to open competing casinos on the sites.

The money is helping to finance a building spree that, by 2030, is expected to double Red Rock’s Las Vegas portfolio.

The operator is pumping $750 million into a new 73,000 square-foot casino, sportsbook, and 200-room hotel on Durango Drive in Southwest Las Vegas. It’s also building a new Wildfire casino in downtown Las Vegas, on the site of the former Showboat/Castaways Hotel and Casino, which it purchased and then demolished in 2004.

Red Rock also recently closed on the purchase of nearly 67 acres in North Las Vegas for $55 million, after it received approvals for a new 75,700 square-foot casino and 600-room hotel on the site. And, in July, it purchased 126 acres south of the Strip for $172 million — boosting its unused land holdings in the Las Vegas Valley to nearly 430 acres.

In addition to its namesake venue in Summerlin and the Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, Red Rock currently operates multiple gaming properties under the Station brand throughout the Las Vegas area. The company also runs 10 Wildfire casinos, including seven in Henderson.