Palace Station to get movie theaters, pool in $191M makeover
The parent company of Station Casinos has announced plans to add luxury movie theaters and a resort-style pool complex to Palace Station as part of a $191 million investment in two properties.
Company executives said in an earnings call for Red Rock Resorts on Tuesday that $76 million in new improvements at Palace Station also would include a new restaurant, casino bar, race and sports book and a renovated poker room. The new investment is in addition to a completed $115 million renovation and expansion that includes a new low-rise exterior facade, two restaurants, porte-cochere, casino valet, new bingo room and improved parking and access at Palace. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.
Station also is putting $146 million into two restaurants, an upgrade to movie theaters, renovated meeting and convention space, a rooftop ultralounge, a new high-limit area, new hotel registration and VIP check-in areas and other projects at its recently acquired Palms property. Those projects are expected to be completed by next year’s second quarter.
The company has acquired demolition and construction permits from the Clark County Building Department for a $10.7 million renovation project on the swimming pool at the Palms as well as a permit for a $1.5 million construction project of a casino entrance area.
“We’re very bullish on our Palace Station location,” Station Casinos CEO Frank Fertitta III said in Tuesday’s conference call with investors. “That’s where we started. It’s right in the middle of town. We see all these new things happening in Las Vegas with the expansion of the convention center and NFL football coming to Las Vegas” as reasons to invest now.
Fertitta said there has been no significant investment in Palace since 1991.
“We believe that by going back in and putting a state-of-the-art buffet on the first floor, new restaurants, movie theaters, which have been very successful for us at all the other locations … we think we’re going to have a lot more reasons to attract people to go to that location,” he said.
Company executive vice president and chief financial officer Stephen Cootey said Station is positioning Palms and Palace as a market hybrid for local customers as well as out-of-town guests.
Red Rock reported higher revenue from last year’s second quarter, but a loss for the period that ended June 30. The company reported a loss of $25.9 million, 39 cents a share, on revenue of $403.5 million. A year ago, the company reported earnings $5.7 million, 1 cent a share, on revenue of $281.6 million.
The 43.3 percent increase in revenue was attributed to the inclusion of Palms revenue for the quarter. The company closed that deal in October.
The loss was attributed to the $120 million acquisition of leases for land holding the Texas Station and Boulder Station properties as a long-term cost-saving measure.
The company also affirmed a dividend payment of 10 cents per share on Aug. 31 to shareholders of record as of Aug. 15.
Red Rock shares closed down 0.8 percent, 20 cents, to $23.69 a share in Tuesday trading on below-average volume.
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.
