Washington: Maverick Gaming sells Macau Casino in Lakewood for $22M

Chicago-based real estate investment firm Oak Street Real Estate Capital has acquired the Macau Casino in Lakewood, Washington state, for $22.1 million, according to a sales affidavit posted with Pierce County Tuesday. The seller was a limited liability company affiliated with Kirkland-based Maverick Gaming.

The 10,747-square-foot casino is located on a 2.8-acre site, and was deployed 15 years ago, according to public records. The casino was open Thursday with no signs of impending closure, and no building permits have been filed for the site. 

The sale price is around $2,056 per square foot, above the average price in the area. Maverick purchased the property in 2019 for $6 million. The casino is roughly two miles east of downtown Lakewood and proximate to I-5, which connects Lakewood with Tacoma to the north, and SR-512, which connects the city with Puyallup and Sumner to the east.

Oak Street, which specializes in sale-leasebacks, appears to be on a buying spree. Earlier this month it offered to acquire up to $2 billion worth of Kohl’s Corp. real estate and lease it back to the department store, according to a report by Reuters. 

As for Maverick Gaming, the company is the owner and operator of 19 card rooms in Washington State and a handful of other properties in Nevada and Colorado. The company has been embroiled in an ongoing legal battle over sports betting in the state after it filed a federal lawsuit seeking to allow non-tribal gambling venues to offer the vertical.