Rumor: Downtown Grand Reportedly Under Contract for Sale

By Scott Roeben, on October 03 2024
4 min read 12 comments
Las Vegas Las Vegas Casinos Las Vegas Hotels

Our sources say Downtown Grand, located downtown, it’s right there in the name of the place, please keep up, has found a buyer.

As with any rumor, things can change, but this one isn’t popping up out of the blue.

Let’s see how we got here and why we’re so awesome at sharing Las Vegas news before it’s officially announced, shan’t we?

Reminder: Sources can’t foretell the future. If rumors aren’t your cup of tea, maybe try a different beverage that doesn’t taste like the bark of a Western white pine tree.

Back in June 2024, we were the first to share the news Downtown Grand was for sale.

In July, we shared Downtown Grand had received several serious offers.

Also in July, the shitheads at the Las Vegas Review-Journal stole our scoop, confirmed it and “broke” the news without attribution. This crap happens pretty much every day. We describe the practice as “sharting on the Adelson family’s legacy.” The Adelson’s own the rag. It reportedly loses $1 million a year.

On Sep. 18, 2024, we shared word Downtown Grand had found a potential buyer.

An announcement is expected in January 2025, according to some random person on Twitter, a source far more reliable than the Las Vegas Review-Journal, by the way.

A lot can happen during the due diligence portion of a casino sale, of course, and many deals have fallen apart when things get granular (inspections, financing, etc.).

The big question, of course, is who’s buying Downtown Grand, and why are they paying so much for it, rumored to be more than $100 million? (Not everyone agrees with that valuation. We’ve heard one bid was for $10 million. No, really.)

Well, Downtown Grand is in pretty good shape, despite the terrible location. That challenging location was presumably improved when the City of Las Vegas sprung (sprang?) for a fancy promenade between Fremont Street Experience and Downtown Grand. (The City paid for it because it improved the sight lines to the Mob Museum, a project championed by former Mayor Oscar Goodman whose wife, wait for it, is the current mayor, the person who sort of holds the purse strings for City projects. Coincidence!)

It was rumored Matt Maddox was eyeing Downtown Grand. At one point, he was going to buy Neonopolis, which sounds like a horrific investment until you realize Maddox thought he might be able to get a gaming license for the site. What might have been.

New ownership would be a shot in the arm for Downtown Grand. It’s currently owned by CIM Group and is managed by Fifth Street Gaming, the company that runs such notable casinos as the closed Silver Nugget and Ojos Locos Sports Cantina y Casino at Hotel Jefe. We are not making this up.

Downtown Grand tends to do well on the hotel side, but its casino has been struggling for years.

Things perked up a bit when Andrew Economon was General Manager, but he was unceremoniously shown the door. Economon had exactly the experience and perspective Downtown Grand needed. He created a number of promotions and offerings tailored to value-seekers. Now, not so much. Although, the $2 hot dog and beer deal is still happening, presumably.

We’ve always liked Downtown Grand, but that block between Fremont Street Experience and the casino might as well be 100 miles.

New ownership could shake things up, and that could be great for guests. Confirmation and more details to come.

Update (10/3/24): Speculation is fun, but hearing things from sources is even better. We’re now hearing the buyer of Downtown Grand could be none other than John Unwin, et. al. Unwin was the original CEO of Cosmopolitan when it opened in 2010. Deutsche Bank helped build Cosmo, and chatter is they’re involved with the Downtown Grand deal. Cosmopolitan had a rough start, but has become one of the best casino resorts on The Strip, which means it’s also one of the best casino resorts in the world. Unwin was involved with The Drew, but that deal went sideways. Most recently, Unwin’s been the Founder & CEO of Corvus Collective. We don’t know what that is, but it sounds like something you should probably get a vaccination against. Unconfirmed, but Unwin could give Downtown Grand a fighting chance at success.

Update (10/4/24): Interesting comment left by Chuck R. on this blog, Oct. 4, 2024: “So when I went down to get my free play at the Downtown Grand last night (I was [previously] told by their kiosk I would be receiving 50 bucks twice a week for the month of October), now there is nothing on the screen where it once showed that amount. I go to the marketing desk/closet next to the cage. I am told that…they have now pulled the free play because of the sale of the property.”

Update (11/16/24): We’ve heard from multiple sources Corvus Collective is the buyer for Downtown Grand. A complicating factor is the Unwin-headed group must come up with $30 million in cash for the deal to happen (the sale price is $150 million, so 20% is $30 million), and that’s not a sure thing. An interesting twist in this saga is the fact Plaza owner Tamares Group made a big on Downtown Grand, but the offer was rejected. Sources say the Corvus offer was $20 million higher than the Plaza bid. Should the Corvus deal fall through, it’s likely Tamares will be the buyer. Our sources say there were really only three viable entities that could purchase and operate Downtown Grand: Derek Stevens (not interested), Boyd Gaming (the company already has three downtown casinos) and Tamares. Each has a strong database of players, a big component of making a go of this location-challenged hotel-casino. There’s an Irv’s at Durango Resort. The reviews are fine, but nothing to write home about. More to come.