Downtown Grand Gets Another Potential Buyer After Going Bust

By Scott Roeben, on August 20 2026
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As we were the first to report, Downtown Grand has yet another potential buyer lined up.

Downtown Grand’s beleaguered casino is currently in receivership, which means the owners (CIM) defaulted on their loans, so an adult had to step in to sell the place for the bank.

The buyer, Vegas Ventures, put down a $2.7 million deposit. It’s worth noting $2.7 million is 5% of $54 million. The asking price of Downtown Grand is generally understood to have been $80 million.

You can see Downtown Grand from Fremont Street, but you can’t get there from here.

We first shared news of Downtown Grand’s latest buyer on August 17, 2026.

Two days later, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, America’s worst newspaper, dug up some additional details about the proposed sale. We never tire of being the Review-Journal’s free news feed. And by that we mean we’re tired of being the Review-Journal’s free news feed. Hacks.

Nobody’s heard of the potential buyer, Vegas Ventures, but they’re described as “a Massachusetts limited liability company.”

The whole exercise might be moot, of course.

Literally every potential buyer of Downtown Grand has bailed once they get into due diligence. That’s when they get to peer into the books. Let’s just say it isn’t pretty.

We previously shared the exclusive scoop that Penske Media Corp., owners of Rolling Stone, nearly bought Downtown Grand. That’s right, there was almost a Rolling Stone Hotel & Casino downtown.

Also well into the purchase process was Siegel Group. The asking price was just too high given the potential returns.

Our sense is if a sale to Vegas Ventures falls through, Siegel Group could get back into the mix, assuming the bank, Banc of California, would accept $50 million for Downtown Grand.

We’ve heard another investment group was close to making a deal for Downtown Grand, but that didn’t come to pass. That group was inquiring with casino operators, presumably to replace Fifth Street Gaming, but that company’s CEO and co-founder Seth Schorr assures us they plan to continue operating Downtown Grand’s casino for the foreseeable future.

Another company will presumably be brought in to manage the hotel, restaurants and other venues. Downtown Grand has a sweet pool.

An element of this ongoing trainwreck gets left out of the conversation. While Banc of California (the senior lender) will get a portion of its unpaid loan back, that’s not the case for the 195 Chinese EB-5 investors who provided $100 million toward redeveloping and reopening the former Lady Luck as Downtown Grand.

Those investors are, as the kids say, deeply and tragically scrod.

It remains to be seen if the Downtown Grand sale goes through. We’ve been here before.

Downtown Grand’s location will continue to be its biggest obstacle to profitability.

Beyond the sale price, a buyer will have to sink additional millions into capital improvements.

A potential buyer we spoke to said they offered $10 million and felt they probably couldn’t make Downtown Grand work even at that price.

We’re rooting for you, Downtown Grand. You are a perfectly adequate hotel-casino with lots of nice amenities, and by that we mean the chicken parm at Triple George as well as the classic cheese pizza at Pizza Rock.

Nobody quite knows what to make of the Hot N Juicy Crawfish place.

The plan is to close the sale of Downtown Grand by Sept. 30, 2026, just in time for the slow season in Las Vegas.

What could possibly go wrong? Again. And again.