Today’s Vegas business news

Thursday, Feb. 29, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

HOME SALES DOWN -- Existing home sales in January hit the lowest point in four months, statistics from the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors said. The association reported 561 home sales in January at an average price of $155,194 and a median price of $119,500. That's an 11.7 percent decrease from the 635 sold in December and an 8.6 percent decline from the 614 sold in January 1995. The average price of sale is 24.9 percent higher than the $124,200 average of January 1995 and the median is 16 percent higher than the $103,000 median price from the same month. There were 1,923 homes listed during the month and 168 of the homes sold were on the market a month or less.

MAIN STREET STATION -- Boyd Gaming Corp. plans to open Main Street Station by the end of 1996 after an expansion, renovation and re-equipping of the 404-room property in downtown Las Vegas, company officials said today. The company has owned Main Street Station since December 1993, but has been using only the hotel rooms to satisfy customer demand that could not be met at its other two downtown properties, the California and the Fremont hotel-casino. The renovation will include a 500-seat buffet, a 130-seat restaurant, a 100-seat cafe and a 200-seat brew pub and oyster bar.

SMOKE-FREE -- Two Las Vegas malls, citing customer requests, will go smoke-free Friday. The Boulevard and Meadows malls currently offer customers and employees designated smoking and no-smoking areas. The two malls become the second and third to ban smoking. Belz Factory Outlet World opened with a no-smoking policy in 1994.

To contact the SUN business news desk, call 259-4061 or e-mail velotta@lvsun.com