Downtown’s Bridger Building Purchased by Derek and Greg Stevens for $2.7 Million

By Scott Roeben, on March 15 2016
3 min read 9 comments
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Casino owners Derek and Greg Stevens have further expanded their downtown Las Vegas empire with the purchase of the classic Bridger Building. The duo scooped up the building for a song, $2.7 million.

Bridger Building
The Bridger Building is located at 225 E. Bridger Ave. on the southwest
corner of Bridger Ave. and S. Third Street. Next to a church, so behave.

The Stevens own The D Las Vegas, Golden Gate, 18 Fremont (what they’re calling the now-closed Las Vegas Club) and the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center.

The Bridger Building sits just across the street from the stage at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center.

The Stevens brothers were the sole bidders for the Bridger Building, a similar scenario to that of their $10 million acquisition of a county courthouse which was demolished and turned into an events venue hosting concerts and sporting events.

Bridger Building
Clark County Board of Commissioners meetings are a blast, similar to falling into an industrial rock crusher.

Demolition isn’t in the cards for the Bridger Building, however.

Hours of investigative reporting (specifically, asking Derek a question) have revealed the future plans for the Bridger Building.

Initially, the building will be used as warehousing space.

Then, the building will serve as office space, and eventually will be a distribution center for the three downtown casinos owned by the Stevens.

The D Golden Gate team
Fresh from their successful bid in the public auction, the team from The D and Golden Gate (from left): Co-owner Derek Stevens, COO Dave Tuttle, CFO Susan Hitch and co-owner Greg Stevens.

The 10-story Bridger Building was built in 1964 and was originally the Bank of Nevada. The building housed Clark County government offices until they were moved in 1995. Read more.

The building, built in the “International style,” has 74,000-square-feet of office space.

Back in 1999, county officials received bids for the Bridger Building for as much as $3.8 million. Rather than selling the building, though, it was decided the building would be renovated instead, at a cost of $20 million, but that plan never came to pass.

At one time, the Bridger Building was slated for demolition, but the purchase by the Stevens brothers will ensure this classic downtown building will endure.

Bridger Building
Here’s a look at where the Bridger Building sits in relation to the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center.

While the building was purchased at a relatively low price, it will require a substantial investment to make it inhabitable. For example, it’s estimated $30,000 will be invested immediately to deal with pigeon waste disposal. Sexy.

It was once estimated it could cost as much as $6 million to “rehabilitate” the Bridger Building. Here’s a fun read if you’re a preservationist nerd.

If the eye-catching building wrap on The D is any indication, and it is, you can bet Derek Stevens is already hatching a plan to use the Bridger Building as a marketing tool beyond its obvious utility.

Hear more from casino owner Derek Stevens in our Vital Vegas Podcast interview. Derek Stevens was our very first guest, and surprisingly, his reputation doesn’t appear to have been sullied in the least.

Derek and Greg Stevens are some of this blog’s favorite people, and we continue to be impressed by their investments in downtown. It’s an ongoing vote of confidence about our favorite place on Earth.

Full disclosure: This blog’s day job is at Fremont Street Experience. The D and Golden Gate are member casinos of that organization. Derek is also a friend, as well as this blog’s future adoptive father, we hope.