Rolling Stone Deal to Buy Downtown Grand is Dead

By Scott Roeben, on July 09 2025
2 min read 19 comments
Downtown Las Vegas Las Vegas

As we were the first to share back in March 2025, Penske Media Corp. was set to buy Downtown Grand. Downtown Grand is located downtown. Please keep up.

Penske entered due diligence, but we can now share exclusively the deal has imploded. It’s dead. Kaput. Expired. Inoperable. This sale has shuffled off the mortal coil and is pushing up daisies.

The dream of having a Rolling Stone Hotel & Casino downtown is no more. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, unfortunately. Read on for some nebulous information that touches upon some of the drama yet to come.

Downtown Grand Las Vegas
At one time, Downtown Grand was going to be called “Brixton,” a deeply stupid bullet dodged.

We quite like Downtown Grand, but man alive, the tribulations.

The Penske deal has been months in the making. It was unclear how much clout the Rolling Stone brand has these days, but the sale would at least hand the reins over to a company with resources and an interest in the place succeeding.

It’s unclear what success for Downtown Grand would even look like given its challenging location, but Las Vegas was built on hope. And thongs, but mostly that first thing.

Downtown Grand never announced it was being sold, nor has it officially confirmed the sale is dead. Yet it is, per our sources.

Why did the deal fall through, as so many near-sales of Downtown Grand (John Unwin’s Corvus Collective bailed during due diligence as well) have in the past?

The technical term is “clusterfuckery.”

CIM Group owns Downtown Grand. There are rumors of chaos behind the scenes relating to CIM and its financial dealings.

We told you it would be nebulous.

CIM Group is a private equity firm, emphasis on private. Public companies have to share their financial information, like sources of financing and earnings (or lack thereof).

CIM Group doesn’t have to do any of that, so we’re left with lots of breadcrumbs and expert opinions and speculation.

The purpose of due diligence is for a buyer to get a look at the financial documents the rest of us aren’t privy to. What did Penske find?

It’s unclear if Downtown Grand has ever generated a profit.

A casino sale can break down during due diligence due to any number of reasons, including financial irregularities, legal issues, operational risks, property concerns, reputational damage or misalignment between buyer and seller expectations.

This was some of that.  Let’s just file it under “unforeseen entanglements.” Which, coincidentally, was the name of our band in high school.

Kevin’s fingers were unnerving to us, too.

What’s next is largely speculative as well.

This is as close to a sale as Downtown Grand has gotten, yet it failed. The fault did not lie with the buyer.

There were other interested parties, but it’s unclear if CIM is in a position to just entertain another offer if financial or legal complications are involved.

Specific details about the exact breakdown of equity and debt used in CIM’s financing of Downtown Grand have never been publicly disclosed.

We’ve gotten several reports of extensive layoffs and furloughs at Downtown Grand. Recent hotel occupancy rates have been in the 20% range, we’re told. Shifts are being cut across the board.

If you’re a Downtown Grand vendor or lender, gird.

Like we said, Las Vegas may have been built on hope, but there has also been a lot of crushing disappointment along the way as well.

Just ask our lovers.

Which definitely exist.

Unconfirmed.