Condo developer to buy El Rancho

David Strow

Thursday, April 27, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.

After eight lonely years of deterioration on the Las Vegas Strip, the El Rancho's days may finally be coming to an end.

Turnberry Associates, the Miami company developing a 750-unit, $650 million high-rise luxury condominium project near the Strip, has exercised its option to acquire the defunct El Rancho from New Jersey company International Thoroughbred Breeders -- though Turnberry officials cautioned the deal has yet to close.

John Riordan, vice president of sales for Turnberry, would not disclose the price paid for the El Rancho.

"That'll become public record once (the deal) closes," Riordan said. Riordan expects the deal to close "within the next few months," once final details are hammered out.

Once that happens, Riordan said, the company will immediately proceed with demolition of the 52-year-old property.

"We do know we want to get rid of what's there," Riordan said. "Beyond that, we don't know."

The El Rancho began its life in the late 1940s as the Thunderbird, the fourth resort opened on the Strip. It was closed in 1992 and has never reopened.

Four years later, the property was acquired by ITB for $43.5 million, and the company quickly announced plans to construct "Starship Orion," a $1 billion hotel-casino, at the site. Those plans never materialized and ITB fell into bankruptcy. Since that time, the El Rancho has slowly decayed as no buyers materialized.

And that's proven to be a drag for development plans on the north end of the Strip, said a local hotel-casino broker.

"You just remove that whole cloud," said broker David Atwell. "It's the difference between looking at a clean piece of land for new development as opposed to a slum, a closed down mess.

"Turnberry was showing million-dollar condominiums with an eyesore next to it."

That factor, as much as any, convinced Turnberry to exercise the option it acquired in February, Riordan said.

"It's a protection of what we have as much as anything," he said. "We've made a big commitment here already, and it makes sense we'd have control of a property adjacent to us, particularly one that can be improved on."

Those eventual plans aren't clear yet. Since the land parcel, spanning more than 20 acres, is zoned for gaming, it would be a logical site for a new hotel-casino development. But Turnberry would probably not be the company directly overseeing that development, Riordan said.

"We would not go that route," Riordan said. "We are not gaming people, and that would be something we do not have experience in."

Still, Riordan believes the land remains quite valuable.

"It's a Strip property," he said. "We really think this end of the Strip, over the next 10 years, will see a lot of change. We'll do whatever helps Turnberry Place and makes sense economically.

"It's an open menu."

Atwell agreed that lean days for the north end of the Strip may indeed be coming to an end -- particularly since Steve Wynn or another bidder may soon acquire the Desert Inn. The end of the El Rancho will only assist that evolution, Atwell said.

"In my opinion, you will see the north end of the Strip develop like other areas of the Strip considered too far away in the past," Atwell said. "Years ago, the Aladdin was considered too far out of the action, and now, it's considered the middle of the action.

"If Steve Wynn buys the Desert Inn, he will create something out there that creates a whole new resurrection of the north end of the Strip."