Downtown Grand announces plans to add a 495-room hotel tower by 2020

January 7, 2019 6:43 PM
  • Howard Stutz, CDC Gaming Reports
January 7, 2019 6:43 PM
  • Howard Stutz, CDC Gaming Reports

Another downtown Las Vegas resort has jumped into the expansion game.

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A few days before D Las Vegas/Golden Gate owner Derek Stevens unveils plans for a multimillion-dollar hotel-casino complex, operators of the Downtown Grand said the resort would add a 495-room hotel tower by 2020, giving the property more 1,000 hotel rooms.

The seven-story tower will be constructed on the east side of the property between Stewart Avenue and Ogden Avenue along 4th Street. The Downtown Grand currently includes two hotel towers on each side of 3rd Avenue that are connected by an enclosed pedestrian bridge.

The new rooms will be marketed as a “boutique hotel experience” and will include 67 studio units, 20 one-bedroom suites and three 1,500-square-foot “presidential suites.”

Financing and construction costs were not disclosed. A spokesperson said privately-held CIM Group, the Los Angeles-based developer that owns the Downtown Grand, does not disclose financials or hotel performance data.

Downtown Grand General Manager Kevin Glass said in a statement that demand for the property’s rooms have increased since its re-opening in 2013. CIM acquired the property in 2007 and spent more than $100 million to remodel and rebrand the hotel-casino.

“We are advancing our progressive growth plan for the Downtown Grand development,” Glass said. “We believe that having over 1,000 rooms will allow us to meet that new demand and provide a downtown Las Vegas experience that visitors, as well as locals, are seeking.”

Downtown Grand becomes the third property in the area planning to expand.

Stevens will release details of his 777-room, 117,000-square-foot casino project Thursday, as part of Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman’s State of the City address. He cleared the square-block site along Main Street and Fremont Street to construct downtown’s first new resort built from the ground up in almost 40 years.

In addition, the Plaza Las Vegas is expanding its footprint after 2021 to include 10 unused acres of the property’s 17-acre site along Main Street. Operators added an outdoor equestrian center to a part of the site that is being used for special events.

Boyd Gaming Corp., which owns three downtown hotel-casinos, received approval from the Las Vegas City Council in November to proceed with a hotel tower expansion at Fremont Hotel and Casino, which now has 447 rooms.

However, a company spokesman said final decisions on moving forward with development haven’t been made.

Downtown Las Vegas has seen signs of rebirth in the last few years.

The tough economic climate ushered in by the Great Recession sent the market spiraling downward from 2008 to 2013. The last four years, however, have seen gaming revenues steadily increase, including 2017’s 11.8 percent surge. Through the first 10 months of 2018, downtown gaming revenues are up a further 1 percent, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

The area has suffered and prospered through ebbs and flows. The high point was 1992, when downtown’s 30 reporting locations produced a record $703 million in gaming revenue.

Since then, consolidation and redevelopment has reduced the number of downtown locations to 19 as of last year.

John Culetsu, vice president and managing director of Downtown Grand, said the addition of new suites allows the property “capacity to serve groups of all kinds as the perfect downtown destination.”

Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.