Las Vegas' Rio Hotel & Casino "open" to sell excess land for MLB ballpark next door

After announcing remodeling plans for its Rio Hotel & Casino Las Vegas and a plan to drive investment in similar properties last week, New York-based real estate firm Dreamscape Companies has now said it is “open” to an MLB ballpark next door to its off-Strip resort.

Industry veteran Eric Birnbaum, founder of Dreamscape, unveiled plans to renovate the property and take charge of daily operations as his firm announced that it raised $850 million in capital. The funds will be used to launch a real estate investment trust (REIT) that will own casino, hospitality and entertainment assets, and form an entity to operate such businesses.

The funds will also be used to bankroll a “multi-phase renovation” of the Rio. Caesars Entertainment, which sold the casino resort to Birnbaum in 2019 for more than $500 million and leased it back, still operates the property. Dreamscape, however, is “slated to officially take over and manage operations at the resort in 2023,” the company said last week.

What is worth noting is his planned overhaul comes as Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics take a hard look at some properties in Las Vegas for a possible ballpark, including excess land at the Rio. Las Vegas Review-Journal had previously reported the A’s were seriously considering the Rio property as a potential location for a ballpark.

Located on Flamingo Road about a mile west of the Strip, the Rio sits on 88.5 acres. Dreamscape “has been engaged in a dialogue about a portion of the excess land at the Rio as a potential MLB ballpark for the past several years,” and the company “remains open to this idea,” a spokesperson told the Review-Journal on Friday.

The Rio boasts 2,520 rooms and more than 117,000 square feet of casino space. Birnbaum had previously talked about plans to renovate the Rio in 2021, when he told the cited source that the “underloved” resort needed new life with “everything from the moment you walk in, to the moment you leave.”

However, details on how this renovation will be are thus far scarce. Last week’s announcement did not disclose how much money Dreamscape would spend on the Rio update, nor did it provide details on the scope of work, or when it would start. The company said it would “reimagine the two-tower structure,” restoring it into “a premier resort and casino experience with modernized amenities,” while noting the Rio will remain open throughout the process.