Tilman Fertitta Acquires Prime Las Vegas Strip Real Estate for Staggering $270M

Posted on: June 17, 2022, 06:36h. 

Last updated on: June 17, 2022, 12:09h.

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

Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta has acquired 6.2 acres of prime real estate on the Las Vegas Strip for a whopping $270 million — or more than $43.5 million per acre.

Tilman Fertitta Las Vegas Strip Golden Nugget
Tilman Fertitta is the new owner of the Travelodge motel on the Las Vegas Strip. The Golden Nugget billionaire paid a staggering $270 million for the little more than six-acre parcel. (Image: Flickr)

Clark County property records show the sale closed June 15 on the real estate, located at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue. In March, Casino.org’s Scott Roeben broke the news that Fertitta was exploring a major Strip acquisition.

The land now owned by Fertitta is currently occupied by a Travelodge motel, strip mall, and parking lot. While changes are a good bet, Fertitta isn’t divulging what the future might hold for the prime real estate.

The property is directly across from CityCenter and several of the Strip’s most luxurious properties, including the Aria and Cosmopolitan, as well as the non-gaming Waldorf Astoria and Vdara.

New Destination Expected

Tilman Fertitta is the owner of the NBA Houston Rockets and the Landry’s hospitality empire that includes five Golden Nugget casinos. Tilman, worth an estimated $5.5 billion by Forbes, is already a Las Vegas casino owner with his downtown Golden Nugget.

The Strip land he bought this week gives the gaming tycoon a marquee setting to build an entirely new casino destination. If Fertitta indeed opts to construct an integrated resort on the roughly six acres, a project that would likely require a 10-figure investment, it would mark his first from-the-ground-up casino build in his storied business career in the gaming industry.

Roeben reported earlier this year that Fertitta’s Strip project, should he carry on with one, would “not be another Golden Nugget.”

Think fancier,” Roeben said of the hypothetical undertaking.

Jeff Schaffer of Spectrum Group Management, an alternative asset management firm in New York City, had owned the property with a handful of other investors. He told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the options are endless for the future of the acreage.

“We’re excited to see what Fertitta does with it,” Schaffer said. Schaffer, Spectrum, and the other sellers are receiving what’s believed to be one of the highest per-acre prices for Strip land in Las Vegas history.

Peculiar Timing

Fertitta’s acquisition comes as the US economy rattles and a recession is increasingly likely. The Feds this week increased its benchmark interest rate by three-quarters of a point, the largest single rate hike by the central bank since 1994.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has pledged to do whatever it takes to curb inflation. But economists say jacking up interest rates on consumers and businesses will likely result in a recession.

Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers and Harvard University professor Alex Domash warn about the interest rate gaming. They point out that since 1955, the feds have increased interest rates to curb inflation while unemployment was below 5%, and the US economy tumbled into a recession.

A recession is commonly defined as two or more consecutive quarters of negative economic growth, typically measured by real gross domestic product (GDP).