Las Vegas Aviators owner separates from Howard Hughes

Seaport Entertainment Group Inc., owner of the Las Vegas Ballpark and Las Vegas Aviators minor league baseball team, has separated from Howard Hughes Holdings to form its own company.

Seaport Entertainment announced the move Thursday, saying it will be a standalone company publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange with no ownership interest by Howard Hughes Holdings. As part of the deal, Howard Hughes will pay Seaport $23.4 million in cash, tied to the two companies setting up separate bank accounts that each will maintain independently, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,

“Today is an exciting milestone for Seaport Entertainment Group as we begin this new phase as an independent public company. We’ve built a team of experienced industry professionals, with the goal of creating a best-in-class entertainment organization underpinned by our quality portfolio in top-tier, high-barrier-to-entry markets,” Anton Nikodemus, Seaport Entertainment president and CEO, said in a statement.

“We are committed to redefining the entertainment experience for our guests, and I’m confident our unique assets, strong partnerships, and newly constructed teams are capable of creating long-term value,” the statement said.

Aside from its Southern Nevada sports holdings, Seaport also has 25 percent ownership of Jean-Georges Restaurants, which includes Prime and Jean-Georges Steakhouse in Las Vegas, and 80 percent interest in the air rights above Fashion Show mall, where a possible casino is being considered.

The $150 million, 10,000-fan-capacity Las Vegas Ballpark opened in Downtown Summerlin in 2019. The Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics, the Aviators, play their home games there.

Howard Hughes Holdings will continue to operate its real estate business, which includes the Summerlin community.

“Howard Hughes moves forward with a refined identity, squarely focused on what we do best — building world-class master planned communities, with an unmatched land bank and decades of opportunities for thoughtful growth and value creation ahead of us,” David O’Reilly, CEO of Howard Hughes, said in a statement. “The completion of the spinoff of Seaport Entertainment marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Howard Hughes, and we wish the greatest success to the Seaport team.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.