Downtown Grand to build new hotel tower in Las Vegas
Downtown Grand will start construction Monday on a new 495-room hotel tower as more tourists flock to Fremont Street and room rates rise.
The project will finish in mid-2020 and nearly double the resort’s room count to 1,124, the company said in statement. No financial information was given.
‘’We are advancing our progressive growth plan for the Downtown Grand development as the demand for our rooms have steadily increased since our opening,’’ general manager Kevin Glass said without disclosing the property’s occupancy rates.
Similar hotel projects in Las Vegas typically cost between $200,000 to $350,000 per room, said John Knott, head of CBRE’s global gaming group, implying a project price tag between $100 million and $175 million.
The new tower will consist of 405 standard rooms, 67 studio units, 20 one-bedroom suites and three presidential suites.
The construction start comes days before Derek and Greg Stevens, co-owners of the D Las Vegas and Golden Gate, announce details of their new 777-room resort in downtown. The brothers say their resort will be the first built from the ground up in downtown in decades.
Gaming revenue, rooms rates up
Boyd Gaming Corp. CEO Keith Smith told investors in October that downtown Las Vegas was continuing to see “positive trends.’’
Boyd posted record revenue at its Fremont resort, one of three it owns in downtown, amid ‘’increases in pedestrian traffic,’’ Smith said.
Those positive trends have lifted gaming revenue and room rates across the area.
Gaming revenue in downtown jumped 26 percent from 2014 through 2017, but cooled over the first 11 months of 2018 to just 1.3 percent. Growth last year was affected by the closure of Lucky Dragon, which is considered part of downtown by the Gaming Control Board.
The average daily room rate in downtown has climbed 14 percent over the past three years from $61.30 in 2015 to $70.29 over the first 11 months of 2018. That is still about half the average rate on the Strip.
Downtown Grand’s average king room price for the remainder of January is $115, including resort fees, and $94 for February. January tends to be one of the best months for hotels because of CES and other major conventions.
Contact Todd Prince at 702-383-0386 or tprince@reviewjournal.com. Follow @toddprincetv on Twitter.
