Station Casinos in Development Mode, Pitches Downtown Las Vegas Wildfire Gaming Venue

Posted on: December 14, 2021, 06:37h. 

Last updated on: December 14, 2021, 11:24h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Station Casinos has unveiled a small tavern casino development near downtown Las Vegas on Fremont Street. just south of Charleston Avenue.

Station Casinos Las Vegas downtown casino
The vacant property owned by Station Casinos along Fremont Street in Las Vegas is seen. It’s where the company wants to build a tavern casino. Las Vegas city planning officials began reviewing the proposal today, December 14. (Image: Station Casinos)

The City of Las Vegas Planning Commission will hold a public hearing later today during its meeting on the Station Casinos project. Station has suggested building a 21,270-square-foot casino on the vacant five acres of land that it owns at 2700 E. Fremont Street.

With city approval, Station Casinos, a locals-focused casino operator in Southern Nevada, would bring its Wildfire casino brand to the area.

Station owns and operates 10 Wildfire restaurant gaming establishments in the Las Vegas area. The 2700 E. Fremont St. development site has received staff approval from the Las Vegas Planning Commission. The project must now receive such endorsing from the city commissioners.

Station Casinos did not detail the number of slot machines planned for the Wildfire scheme. The property in question is adjacent to a Lowe’s Home Improvement store.

Durango Update

Station Casinos and its Red Rock Rocks (RRR) publicly traded unit aren’t sitting idle as the darkest days of COVID-19 are seemingly behind the US casino industry. Flush with cash after selling the Palms in May for $650 million to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, Station/RRR is getting back to what it does best: catering to Nevada locals.

Station Casinos is inching closer to breaking ground on its Durango project. The $750 million undertaking received approval from the Clark County Commission in October despite area backlash in a campaign that was led by the Culinary Union.

The leading casino labor group in Nevada has been at odds with Station/RRR for many years. That’s because of billionaires Frank III and Lorenzo Fertitta’s opposition to unionized workforces at their many casinos in the Las Vegas Valley.

Durango, a Station Casinos Resort — as the project is called — is going up in the Durango neighborhood just south of IKEA and the 215 Beltway at S. Durango Drive. Station acquired roughly 71 acres of land in 2000 and has been mulling a casino there ever since.

The first shovel is expected in the ground in the first quarter of 2022. Station expects construction to take approximately 18 to 24 months.

Organization Bullish Post-Pandemic

With the company already committed to Durango — and Station now seeking approval to construct a Wildfire gaming tavern near downtown — the company is living up to its owners’ comments during RRR’s third-quarter earnings call in November.

We’re kind of in development mode,” explained Frank Fertitta on the investor conference. “We have six undeveloped pieces of property. We really like the idea of doubling the size of our current operating footprint here in Las Vegas.”

RRR reported Q3 net revenue of $414.8 million, up 17.4 percent from the same three months in 2020. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) climbed almost 15 percent year-over-year to $184.5 million.