The Australian casino conglomerate Crown Casino has completed the sale of its interest in land in Las Vegas. Wynn Resorts Ltd. will obtain the 34.6-acre land for US$300 million. Crown Casino says that its share of the proceedings after accounting for minority interests will amount to US$264 million.
The Australian tiger bought the land on the western side of the Las Vegas Boulevard in 2014 for the price of US$280 million and prepared for the Alon project – a 1,100-room casino resort. After the subsequent withdrawal from the project in late 2016, however, Crown Casino announced their plans to sell the land for the sum of US$400 million. Interestingly, the eventual buyer would not have become owner of all 34.6 acres, but of only 18.4 acres. The remaining 16.2 acres would have come as part of the project through a lease. Thus, an acre of the land would have been fully bought for the price of US$21.7 million.
In fact, prior to the economic recession in the States in 2007, the real estate development firm El-Ad Group estimated that the parcel was worth over US$1 billion.
The ambitious Alon project proved over-ambitious for Crown Casino and the company was forced to announce their abandonment in 2016. All happened when China abruptly stopped exporting high roller casino customers and Crown found themselves unable to raise the necessary US$2 billion for the realisation of the project.
The land, located on the western side of the Las Vegas Boulevard not far from Wynn Las Vegas and Wynn Encore, will soon be transferred to the ownership of Wynn Resorts. Sources say that both parties have agreed on a subsequent deal in which Wynn will buy four additional acres, with the casino conglomerate ultimately paying US$336 million for the whole deal.
Wynn Resorts representatives refrain from commenting on their plans concerning the recently acquired land. Nevertheless, they described their new purchase as “a unique assembly of contiguous real estate of approximately 280 acres”. Wynn believes their new venue, whatever it is, will positively influence Las Vegas visitation patterns and draw more attention to the Las Vegas Boulevard.
The Casino Giant Keeps on Selling
Turns out that the land is far from the only thing Crown Casino intends to sell. This Thursday, company representatives announced their plans to sell US$4.2 million in shares held in the Caesars Entertainment Corporation, from which Crown expects to gain approximately US$54 million. Furthermore, the Australian tiger is selling its stake at the Ellerston rural resort, where it entertains VIP visitors. The company expects to gain A$62.5 million from the deal.
Additionally, Crown also revealed plans to sell their two mid-level floors of the in-development Crown Sydney Hotel Resort to James Packer – Crown’s majority shareholder.
Crown Casinos are currently trying to reach an agreement with CrownBet regarding previously announced plans to sell 62% of the stakes in the on-line sports betting conglomerate.
