By Dan Behringer for LVSportsBiz.com
Those giant cranes crisscrossing the desert sky along the 215 Beltway are tangible signs of a new casino underway in Las Vegas.
The cranes and construction crew near the Beltway and Durango Drive are working on Durango Station — the long-awaited casino from Station Casinos LLC.
The construction site and eventual home of Durango Station at the southwest corner of the intersection currently cover 49 acres at the corner of Durango Drive and Maule Avenue. Several cranes are currently at work on the $750 million project.
When complete, Durango Station will have 200 rooms and suites along with an 83,000-square-foot casino with a race and sports book. Some 20,000 square feet of convention space is planned. The race and sports book will have both inside and outside views, according to a previously published report. Some 40 electric car-charging stations will also be on-site. The company’s website on the project also says there will be multiple bike lanes to access the property with “ample bike parking.”
Completion is expected in late 2023.
A representative at Station Casinos corporate office on Thursday said there was no additional information to share at this time.
No one from W. A. Richardson Builders, general contractor on the project, was available for comment.
The casino project has long been expected. Station Casinos LLC bought the land from developer Jim Rhodes in 2000 and there were initial plans to open by 2004. That never happened. In 2009, amid fallout from the Great Recession, the company toyed with a scaled-down version. That never happened either.
Durango Station is Station Casino’s first new casino project since its flagship Red Rock Resort opened in 2006. A ceremonial groundbreaking for Durango Station was held March 11.
“When we looked at our potential development sites across the valley it was an absolute no-brainer to look at the southwest and the Durango location,” Scott Kreeger, president of Red Rocks Resorts, told reporters at the groundbreaking. “Economically, the demographics are just as good as Red Rock, our most successful property. … We considered it an underserved area and we’re excited to join the neighborhood.”
Professor Joe Gormley, chair of hospitality management at the College of Southern Nevada, agreed that the location of the project in the southwest valley is favorable because there is no other casino in the immediate area.
Gormley also addressed the potential slowdown in the economy, talk of a possible recession and how it might affect the planned opening in 2023.
“Hopefully, that will be good timing in that we’ll be pulling out of that by then,” he said. He noted that Las Vegas has fared well in previous recessions such as in the recession in the 1970s.
“Las Vegas is resilient in that we make it work. We will pull through and remain a good value and place to live and work,” he said.
Station Casinos LLC operates Station- and Wildfire-branded properties throughout the valley. However, its Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho and Texas Station properties were closed in March 2020. On Friday, the company said in a statement those three properties would be demolished and the land sold.
The company is a subsidiary of publicly traded Red Rock Resorts. Shares of the company have traded in a range from about $31 to $59 in the past year on the Nasdaq. They were trading higher on Friday in the $34 range amid a market rally.
Dan Behringer is a longtime Las Vegan. Follow posts at doublegutshot.com. On Twitter @DanBehringer221