$260 million locals resort set for Green Valley Ranch

David Strow

Monday, March 13, 2000 | 11:21 a.m.

Station Casinos Inc. and American Nevada Corp. today unveiled a partnership, a groundbreaking date and other details on a long-planned resort casino in Henderson.

Construction on the 200-room, $260 million to $270 million Green Valley Ranch project, described as a "Santa Barbara-like" resort for locals, will begin within weeks. Completion is set for late 2001.

The property will have a spa, outdoor swimming pools, a 10-screen movie theater and restaurants. Two hundred rooms is the minimum required for a nonrestricted gaming license.

"The location was very important ... with recent discussions by county and government entities to further reduce opportunities for locals gaming," said Glenn Christenson, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Station Casinos. "This is one of the few A-plus sites (zoned for gaming) remaining in the valley.

"Developing the property further solidifies our position as the leader in the Las Vegas locals market."

Located between Pecos Road and Green Valley Parkway south of Interstate 215, the property will feature a 54,000-square-foot casino with 2,000 slot machines and 40 table games. Initially, it will be the smallest of Station's five major local properties, though the resort could be expanded to 600 rooms.

The 40-acre property will also include 9,000 square feet of convention space. The resort has yet to be named.

One advantage for Station with the project is that it won't cannibalize much business from the company's Sunset Station in Henderson, one analyst said.

"(Green Valley) is a growing community, and that's one of the remaining (gaming) sites that's grandfathered open," said Stuart Linde, analyst with Lehman Bros. "There are no major casinos over there.

"That's a good location, right off the interstate."

Station will contribute $40 million in cash to the project, while American Nevada will contribute an equal amount in cash and land. The balance of the casino's costs -- estimated at $170 million to $190 million -- will be debt absorbed by the joint partnership. Station won't have to assume additional debt to fund its portion of the project.

American Nevada is owned by the Greenspun family, owner of the Las Vegas Sun.

"It's been in the master plan for years to have a resort-casino on this site," said Phil Peckman, president of American Nevada. "We received our use permit and approvals (for gaming) four years ago. But it took us awhile to get it designed, and we had to wait for the freeway to get built.

"If you can imagine what the Resort at Summerlin (now Regent Las Vegas) looks like, it'll have that feel. It will be in keeping with what Green Valley Ranch is already."

The two companies are already partners in Barley's Casino & Brewing Co., a casino and microbrewery opened in 1996 in Henderson. Four members of the Greenspun family and Peckman hold gaming licenses for their Barley's ownership, though these licenses will have to be expanded to include the Green Valley project.

"That's been a very, very successful partnership, and cemented this larger transaction for us," Peckman said. "They are the premier local gaming company, and we thought they would be the best long-term partner for us and the easiest to work with."

Neither side expects the kind of political flak that accompanied plans by Boyd Gaming Inc. to develop a locals property in southwest Las Vegas on land owned by Triple Five Development Corp., since the American Nevada property has been zoned for gaming for years.

"People moving to that area have been quite aware ... that a casino will go in on that corner," Christenson said.

For Station Casinos, today's deal does not hinder its option to expand in another corner of the Las Vegas Valley. It has an option to buy the Santa Fe hotel-casino in Northwest Las Vegas and Christenson said that option remains in force.