Plan of action for the development
Red Rock Resorts executives have revealed some fresh information about plans to develop a new casino in the southwest valley of Las Vegas. Executives from the Station Casinos owner specified during a Q2 earnings call on Wednesday that the planned hotel-casino will be located on a 71-acre site on South Durango Drive.
the current schedule is to break ground early in 2022
Red Rock Resorts chief financial officer Stephen Cootey said that work is underway for the budgeting and planning phases of this project. The current schedule is to break ground early in 2022 and the entire construction process would take between 18 months and two years.
The gaming floor would be over 100,000 square feet in size and would contain over 40 table games and 2,000 slot machines. There would also be at least 200 hotel rooms, as well as a sportsbook and a number of food and beverage locations.
Future of three casinos still in question
Despite providing information about its planned new casino, not much information was given regarding Station Casinos’ three closed Nevada properties. Red Rock Resorts CEO Frank Fertitta said that the company is still evaluating the merits of reopening the Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho, and Fiesta Henderson casinos. Each of these properties has been closed since the pandemic-forced closures in March 2020.
Fertitta said: “We have come to no conclusion, at this point in time, if and/or when which property we would open.”
the Durango casino project is the company’s main focus
He went on to underline that the Durango casino project is the company’s main focus currently as it is a great development opportunity in “the most underserved part of the Las Vegas Valley.”
The casino company did agree to sell the Palms casino resort off the Las Vegas Strip in April to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians for $650m. This casino has also not been open since March 2020. The deal remains on course and the hope is that it will close before the end of 2021.
Strong quarter for Red Rock Resorts
Red Rock Resorts reported $428.2m in net revenue for the second quarter, an 11% drop from 2019 levels for the same period. Its earnings before tax and other adjustments amounted to $210.2m. This was an 82% rise from the same period in 2019.
The pandemic led to many Nevada-focused casino operators like Red Rock Resorts expanding their margins. Company executives believe that this expansion can be sustained. Net income reached $143.4m in Q2, up from the net loss of $7.1m in Q2 2019. Red Rock was using 2019 figures to compare the results due to the pandemic-stricken 2020 figures.