Silverado Casino Proposed for South Point’s Front Yard
A new hotel-casino dubbed “Silverado” is being proposed on Las Vegas Boulevard, near the popular South Point casino.
It’s interesting for a couple of reasons: 1) It’s a casino. Do you know this blog at all? 2) Unlike so many whimsical casinos announced in Las Vegas, this one has a real developer associated with it.
Despite the fact there’s no announced financing, no identified gaming operator and no visible Nevada casino-development track record, this hasn’t set off our Bullshit Radar, which is really saying something. Let’s explore further.
We learned about this new project from a site called Nevbex, a world leader in sites we’ve never heard of.
As mentioned, the folks behind Silverado (the project is technically unnamed, but this is the informal name, ill-advised given the nearby Silverton, in our opinion) appear to have actually built things.
The proposed Silverado would sit on 13.5 acres at the northwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Richmar Avenue. That’s in Enterprise, not Las Vegas, but close enough.
Ochoa Development Corporation is the owner and developer of the project. Gensler and Yihong Liu + Associates are handling design, RCI Engineering is the civil engineer and LAS Consulting is representing the project.
Gensler is a particularly recognizable name. The international architecture firm has worked on numerous hospitality projects, including renovations at downtown’s Golden Gate.
The Silverado project is planned in two phases.
Phase one would include a six-story hotel with 300 rooms, a casino, restaurants and bars, entertainment space, conference facilities, a spa and fitness lounge and a five-story parking garage.
Phase two would add another six-story hotel building with 150 rooms, bringing Silverado to 450 rooms total.
The combined project would encompass about 404,000 square feet. Which means it’s relatively small. Which means it’s more likely to happen.
Ochoa Development is headed by Michael William Ochoa, a longtime Nevada developer and contractor. Nevada State Contractors Board records show Ochoa Development has held an unlimited general building contractor license. Ochoa also has a legitimate development history, including apartment, industrial and timeshare projects.
That said, we can’t find evidence Ochoa Development has previously developed or operated a casino. Timeshares, apartments and industrial projects are real estate development.
Casinos are real estate development, but with complications. There’s gaming licensing, specialized financing, surveillance and security, casino operations, slot and table-game systems and the small matter of competing against neighbors who are considered the best at what they have been doing for decades.
South Point has spent years cultivating a loyal customer base (we know because we are one of them) and offers everything a guest could want from a neighborhood casino, plus an equestrian center.
The owner of South Point, Michael Gaughan, is very influential and holds sway. He probably isn’t thrilled about the idea of a new casino opening in the neighborhood. Just saying. He knows guys.
The Silverado project is scheduled to go before the Clark County Zoning Commission on Sept. 2, 2026.
Zoning approval doesn’t mean this project is happening, of course.
The list of approved-but-never-happened casinos is longer than our, sorry, we keep forgetting our mom reads this blog. You get the idea.
Since we are a noted expert in setting odds for announced projects coming to fruition, we’d put Silverado’s chances at 35%. That’s much higher than most of the imaginary projects we hear breathlessly reported by local media: Dream, Atari Hotel, Majestic, 65SLVB, LVXP, the heart-shaped resort, Las Vegas Spaceport and Z Athlete Village. The list goes on and on. And don’t get us started about the two dozen investment groups who are definitely building resorts with NBA arenas.
You can rarely go wrong by defaulting with skepticism when it comes to new casino projects. Doubt has served us well as a Las Vegas fortune teller.
As with all announced projects, show us the money.
For now, “unlikely but possible” will have to suffice.
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