Park Place buying land, golf course from MGM MIRAGE

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

MGM MIRAGE is selling its unfinished Boulder City golf course and 5.5 acres in Atlantic City to Park Place Entertainment Corp. for $60 million, the two Las Vegas companies announced today.

Those transactions and a plan to sell four pieces of impressionist art in an auction are part of MGM MIRAGE's continued disposal of "nonstrategic assets" following MGM Grand's $6.4 billion acquisition of Mirage Resorts Inc. in May.

MGM MIRAGE officials said the Park Place deals and the art sale would generate $66 million, bringing the total proceeds of asset disposal to $220 million and resulting in a reduction of debt of about $415 million since the Mirage Resorts acquisition was announced.

Scott LaPorta, chief financial officer of Park Place, said the deal for the 18-hole Cascata Golf Course, located on the north end of Boulder City, would close when the facility is completed in November. LaPorta said the Rees Jones-designed course would be used by high-end guests of the company's Las Vegas properties.

Park Place also is acquiring 5.5 acres fronting Atlantic City's fabled Boardwalk, located next to the Atlantic City Hilton. The company did not detail plans for the property, which was the site of the Dunes Hotel. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

MGM MIRAGE also announced it plans to sell four paintings -- a Renoir, a Morissot and two by Modigliani -- at an impressionist auction Nov. 9 at Sotheby's in New York, one of the world's top auction houses.

The merger of the two companies enabled MGM MIRAGE to dispose of a variety of assets.

The Boulder City golf course was MGM Grand's competitive response to Mirage's Shadow Creek Golf Course in North Las Vegas. The company's high-rollers will now play at Shadow Creek.

The company still controls more than 200 acres in four locations in Atlantic City, including 35 acres on the Boardwalk and 14 acres in the city's Marina district. It also has the 150-acre "H tract," which is the site of the Borgata, a $1 billion joint venture with Boyd Gaming Corp. of Las Vegas, which broke ground last week.

The Borgata is the first casino project to break ground in Atlantic City in 10 years. MGM MIRAGE has another 55 acres near the Borgata site.

The four paintings being sold came from the collection that had been housed at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art at the Bellagio hotel-casino. In June, MGM MIRAGE announced the sale of 11 paintings from the collection -- three of them to former Mirage Chairman Steve Wynn -- for $124 million.

Although much of the art at the Bellagio has been sold, the gallery will remain open with travelling exhibitions. The Washington D.C.-based Phillips Collection already has begun a show there.

MGM MIRAGE also has already sold corporate aircraft that were duplicated when the companies merged.