Station Casinos to demolish and sell land of three closed venues with intention to reinvest, expand portfolio

Hotel and casino company Station Casinos is set to permanently close and demolish three of its properties in Las Vegas with the intention to sell the land beneath them. The venues are Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho and Fiesta Henderson, which have remained shuttered since March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began.

A total of 107.5 acres would be involved in the three land sales and it is unlikely that casinos would be built on any of the parcels. The new plans were announced by company officials on Friday, reports Las Vegas Review-Journal, as they believe it wouldn’t make financial sense for the properties to remain open.

According to representatives of parent company Red Rock Resorts, most of the closed casinos’ customer bases have migrated to other Station properties. Guests of Texas Station and Fiesta Rancho, at Lake Mead Boulevard and Rancho Drive in North Vegas, have moved on to Santa Fe Station to the northwest and to a Wildfire venue south of Lake Mead Boulevard. Fiesta Henderson guests have moved to Sunset Station and Green Valley Ranch, both in Henderson.

“These properties have been an important part of our business over many years, so it is not without sadness that we announce these permanent closures,” Station Casinos president Scott Kreeger said. “We would like to recognize and thank our former team members who worked at these properties for making them a place where our guests always felt welcome.”

Station Casinos president Scott Kreeger

In a prepared statement, the company said that approximately one-third of the team members from each of the three properties are already working at another Station Casinos venue, with the hope that the number will grow. Kreeger also said the company will reinvest in its current open properties and develop more casinos in North Las Vegas and Henderson, reports Fox 5.

Station Casinos detailed the new developments in conversation with Review-Journal. “We’re working with the city of North Las Vegas on a potential development site for another large-scale casino resort,” Kreeger said. “We also are very interested in the tavern and small non-restricted space, and we have some investment plans in regard to that in North Las Vegas as well.”

Regarding Henderson, where the company has a majority of its properties, Kreeger noted Station has a “great” relationship with the city. “Not only do we have the Inspirada site, which we’re actively working through the entitlements and development processes there, but we also are investing quite substantial amounts of money in a rejuvenation and renovation at Sunset Station and also an offering of several new restaurant and gaming amenities at Green Valley Ranch.”

Kreeger told the cited source that the company is negotiating with city officials in North Las Vegas on a project in a pre-approved gaming enterprise district, but did not disclose the location. However, Review-Journal claims a map identifying the city’s gaming enterprise districts shows a large parcel at Losee Road and the 215 Beltway, a potential site of the development.

While company officials have labeled the decision to permanently close and demolish three of its venues a difficult one, it is not entirely a surprising one, responding to economic and strategic purposes. Even before the pandemic, the Texas Station and the Fiestas properties were the operator’s worst-performing ones.

Moreover, given the majority of customers migrated to other company facilities, Station Casinos has managed to capture about 90% of overall play, meaning that, to some degree, the properties became “duplicative.” Thus, the company did not see it viable to reopen them.

Rendering for Durango Casino and Resort, one of the company's upcoming venues

Asked if Station would be open to keeping any of the buildings intact if another gaming company came calling, Kreeger said, according to Review-Journal, “I think by the nature of our business, we’d prefer to see some alternative use there.”

These venues are not the only ones Red Rock Resorts has said goodbye to as of late. The company sold The Palms for $650 million last spring, which reopened in April after a two-year closure, becoming the first tribe-owned casino in Las Vegas under San Manuel Band of Mission Indians’ ownership.

However, the company is expanding too. This spring, the business broke ground on a new property in the southwest valley called Durango Casino and Resort. The large-scale $750 million project in southwest Las Vegas is slated to open in late 2023.

And earlier this month, Red Rock Resorts began work on a new tavern project in downtown Las Vegas, a Wildfire casino on Fremont Street just south of Charleston Boulevard. The one-story project would span more than 21,000 square feet and sit on a 5-acre plot of land.