Chunk of Las Vegas Strip sold for $172M
A chunk of the Strip has sold for a big price and is slated for new retail offerings.
New York investment firm Gindi Capital announced Friday it bought 9.5 acres of real estate along Las Vegas Boulevard for $172 million, or about $18 million an acre.
The holdings include the Hawaiian Marketplace retail plaza and the low-slung Cable Center Shops next door.
Gindi is “working with its development and design teams to unveil plans for a new flagship retail, entertainment and dining experience,” the announcement said.
It did not elaborate, and a representative for Gindi said the company is not doing interviews at this time.
Gindi, co-owner of the nearby Showcase mall, bought the buildings from New York investment firm Spectrum Group Management.
Michael Parks of CBRE Group, a former listing broker for the site, said that he expects Gindi to tear down the buildings and develop a new project and that this section of Las Vegas Boulevard, between Harmon and Tropicana avenues, has “a massive number of people walking” around.
He also said the purchase shows the best use for land on the casino-choked Strip nowadays isn’t always a hotel.
If someone bought nearly 10 acres on Las Vegas Boulevard 20 years ago, it was a safe bet the buyer would build a casino-resort, Parks agreed.
“Times have changed, for sure,” he said.
Gindi’s purchase comprises more than half of the property Spectrum put on the market last year for $800 million.
A multibillion-dollar, Elvis-themed resort reportedly was planned for the site years ago. Spectrum acquired the property out of bankruptcy in 2010, after the economy crashed.
Spectrum managing partner Jeff Schaffer confirmed the sale to Gindi and that his firm recently sold a Walgreens building next to Gindi’s new holdings for $30 million to the drugstore chain.
Walgreen Co. closed the purchase June 7, property records show. The pharmacy giant declined to comment Friday night.
Spectrum initially owned 18 acres on that part of the Strip and wanted to sell it all at the same time. But the buyer pool for such a large, expensive property was small, and Spectrum didn’t get the price it wanted, so it decided to sell in pieces, Schaffer said.
In 2017, Spectrum sold the now-demolished Smith & Wollensky building to Showcase owners Gindi and Jordache jeans founders the Nakash family for $59.5 million.
“We’re exceeding our expectations at this point,” he said of the prices his group is fetching.
Spectrum still owns about 6 acres at the corner of Harmon and Las Vegas Boulevard. Schaffer said his group has received offers of $50 million an acre for part of that section but added he wants to sell it all in one deal.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.
