Wchicken Pen Entertainment Inc. CEO Jay Snowden flew into town for the grand opening of M Resorts’ new 375-room hotel tower in December, telling guests attending the ribbon cutting how excited he was to see all the growth in the area.
“I love all the rooftops that go up in the south end of the valley,” Snowden said. “It’s very noticeable when you fly in.”
New rooftops, of course, are key to growth in the southern Nevada casino industry, and Penn’s $206 million investment in the M nearly doubled hotel capacity there. The property also added convention space with that opening.
Other casino developers have taken note.
Not 5 miles from the M is the future site of what is tentatively called Inspirada Station, the new Station Casinos property planned by Red Rock Resorts, at Via Inspirada and Bicentennial Parkway in the Seven Hills area of Henderson.
Meanwhile, Anthony Marnell III, the original developer of the M 17 years ago, says he plans to build a new property to compete with the resort he sold to Penn in 2010 that gave the massive Wyomissing, Pennsylvania-based regional casino company its first foothold in Southern Nevada.
Marnell said his new project, which he doesn’t expect to break ground on for three to five years, would span about 35 acres on the northeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and St. Rose Parkway, across the street from the M. The project will include 600 rooms as well as a casino, food hall, entertainment lounge, meeting and banquet space and pool deck, according to a conceptual city plan for Henderson.
The big plans for West Henderson and South Las Vegas could make that part of the region the next big expansion for gaming in the Las Vegas Valley. Industry watchers and analysts say other parts of the subway also have growth potential.
Other growth areas
They point out that there is potential for gaming growth in southwest Las Vegas, the Boulder Highway section of Henderson and northwest in the Skye Canyon community, which will have 6,500 homes at full development.
“Southern Nevada has seen several interesting changes in the post-COVID environment,” said Amanda Belarmino, assistant professor at UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hospitality.
“Southwest and West Henderson have been underserved areas, indicating that they may continue to see increased interest from casino companies,” she said. “But Centennial Hills (near Skye Canyon) is also an underserved area, with several hundred houses far from Santa Fe Station and with relatively few restaurants and drinks.”
Brendan Bussmann, managing partner of Las Vegas-based B Global, agrees.
“As the Valley continues to grow, I think you’ll continue to see specific developments, not necessarily larger zones, that meet underserved areas of the local market, including Inspirada, Skye Canyon and Lake Las Vegas/Cadence (communities),” Bussmann said. “Part of this has been about a long-term strategy to plan for growth in the valley and it’s just about activating these places when it’s right for development.”
Josh Swissman, founder and CEO of Las Vegas-based GMA Consulting, said west Henderson and the southwest valley are likely growth zones, but the northwest valley in the Skye Canyon area could be an even bigger opportunity in the near term.
“There are two directions where growth can happen in that area, straight north from Skye Canyon and development even beyond that, or west toward Mount Charleston,” Swissman said.
“Years ago you could drive in that area and you wouldn’t see any houses on the way to Mount Charleston Lodge. It seemed like you’d drive forever before you saw anything under construction. Now it’s five minutes. That’s why I think that area has a steam.”
Swissman argues that the neighborhoods around Skye Canyon are underserved by the casino industry with Santa Fe Station far to the south and Aliante far to the east. He said Station Casinos acquired land in the Skye Canyon area several years ago for future development, just as they did in southwest Las Vegas with Durango and in west Henderson with the future Inspirada Station.
Station Casinos owns about 48 acres in northwest Las Vegas off Interstate 11 near the Kyle Canyon Road interchange, according to Red Rock Resorts’ annual report. It is about 7 miles northwest of Santa Fe Station.
“Station has the ability to pinpoint population growth centers before they really start to fire up and then buy strategic parcels of land in those areas. They’ve done that time and time again,” Swissman said. “Maybe they’ve caught lightning in a bottle again with their land holdings out there in the Skye Canyon area.”
Boyd Gaming Corp., well diversified as not just a regional casino company but a major player in the local Las Vegas market, in March opened Cadence Crossing Casino in Henderson on Boulder Highway and has a definitive affiliate strategy centered on the growth of the nearby Cadence area. Company executives have said they plan to match their gaming expansion plans to neighborhood growth, eventually adding hotel rooms and more space at Cadence Crossing, which replaced the old Jokers Wild property.
Henderson Mayor Michelle Romero, also a member of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board, attended the opening of Cadence Crossing and said the city is on board with the growth of the casino industry, whether it’s near Cadence or in west Henderson.
“West Henderson is always going to be where more of the growth happens simply because there’s more vacant land out there, and it’s open to new development,” Romero said. “You’ll see more of renovations to existing projects in other parts of our city. As things age, you’ll see us improve them and do more infill development.”
In the next few years, Marnell, chairman and CEO of the real estate and casino company Marnell Companies, will focus on the area around M.
“When we broke ground on the M, that part of Las Vegas and Henderson was one of the fastest growing cities in the country. And then the recession really put a damper on that,” he said.
“I would say that between what Michael (Gaughan), one of the pioneers of the South Strip, did at South Point and myself, we know that market, what the people want. I think over time there will be enough room for more. Obviously, I think the expansion of the M is a good sign with its new tower.”
“With the residential development going on in the area, there’s no reason there can’t be more expansion there and at Inspirada,” Marnell said.
He’s encouraged by how successful nearby Durango has been. That property, located several miles to the south and west, has moved the market needle significantly, according to Nevada Gaming Control Board gaming profit statistics since opening in December 2023.
Durango’s success has bolstered Station Casinos, and Scott Kreeger, CEO of Red Rock Resorts, said the company for years has been focused on the long game.
“We have probably the largest bank of developable land of any casino company and certainly in Las Vegas,” Kreeger said in an interview on Sunset Station. “We believe in Las Vegas. We’ve all lived here for a majority of our lives. We’ve seen the growth and we’re confident that that growth will continue in the future.”
Station strategy
He said most of the land for future development is near freeway exits, making the properties easily accessible to customers. And if you look at the existing footprint of Station properties, it’s a proven formula for success — Palace Station off Interstate 15, Boulder Station, Sunset Station and Santa Fe Station off Interstate 11, and Green Valley Ranch, Durango and Red Rock Resort off the 215 Beltway.
“We acquired developable gaming sites that were located on the 215 Beltway adjacent to exits with the expectation that as those areas grew, we could continue to grow with the city,” Kreeger said. “We have six developable sites that are actually pretty evenly spread across all major types of geographic zones in the Valley and primarily around the 215 Beltway. Most of our sites that we have available today are in a potentially developable state as they sit.”
What’s next for Station? Kreeger said that has not been decided.
“Certainly the Inspirada project is at the top of our list,” he said. “We like its location, right in the center of Inspirada’s master plan development. We anticipate that there will be major routes from I-15, directly to our site.”
In addition to the Inspirada site, the company’s land bank includes property at the north end of Fifth Street in North Las Vegas, another about 7 miles north of Santa Fe Station that the company calls its Skye Canyon site and another at Las Vegas Boulevard and Cactus Avenue that it calls its Cactus site.
Competition?
While gaming industry experts say Station’s land bank tends to discourage rivals from competing with it in those areas, Kreeger said that’s not the primary strategy and they welcome competition.
“I’m not sure we want to keep the competition out,” Kreeger said. “We respect all the other operators in the local Las Vegas environment. I think they all do a great job.
“But I think Station Casinos has a unique offering that’s a little bit different than our competitors. At the same time, I think we’ve acquired all the developable, eligible gaming sites left outside the resort corridor.”
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