Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

OPINION:

A few months after opening, SLS has a new beginning

SLS Press Conference

Mikayla Whitmore

Terry Fancher, executive managing director at Stockbridge, speaks during a press conference at SLS Las Vegas on Friday, Aug. 22, 2014.

Historically in Las Vegas, December is the city’s slow period. That’s no longer the case, as VegasVille continues to bubble over with activity as the year draws to a close.

• Some overarching thoughts about SLS Las Vegas chief Sam Nazarian stepping away from his day-to-day duties at the troubled hotel: Nazarian’s struggles with Nevada’s Gaming Control Board prove once more that obtaining a full gaming license in this state is a privilege, not a right. The standards to be met are remarkably high. The board is not going to take a shine to an applicant who admits cocaine use during a spring break trip just four months before reopening a $415 million resort or who delivers $3 million to a felon with convictions for money laundering and drug possession.

Nazarian was awarded a limited, one-year gaming license but remains barred from involvement in casino operations.

Nazarian was the creative force who recruited the team to design and build SLS. Many of the effects, such as the photo gallery of personal favorite Terry O’Neill, show his imprint. But as a changeover in hierarchy was announced, we were reminded of the exact ownership schematic at the resort. Nazarian’s company, SBE Entertainment, owns just 10 percent of the hotel, yet he had been installed as the man at the top.

No longer, and we might well have seen the end of Nazarian’s run as a Strip resort operator. The property’s majority owner, Stockbridge Capital, has appointed Executive Managing Director Terry Fancher as the hotel’s top official. SLS President Scott Kreeger reports directly to Fancher.

The hotel opened when growth on the north end of the Strip needed to be celebrated, and maybe Kreeger can steer this craft in the right direction. The end of 2014 was to be a new beginning at SLS, and it will be — though for reasons entirely unforeseen.

• Stephen Siegel has run full circle in his decade of building a Las Vegas real estate empire. The Siegel Group just bought Sierra Vista Square Apartments, paying $4.65 million at auction. The 175-unit complex is a block east of the property where Siegel made his first purchase in Las Vegas, the former Vista Arms Apartments on the northwest corner of Sierra Vista Drive and Swenson Street.

In addition to 27 Siegel Suites low-budget apartment complexes, Siegel continues to own Rumor, Artisan, the Resort at Mount Charleston and the old Crown Plaza property on Paradise Road, where development has halted. Much of his focus has turned to Reno, where this year he bought the Virginia Hotel, El Cortez and 248 On The River.

Siegel is converting those properties to mixed-use buildings with apartments on the top floors and retail and office spaces at the bottom. Reno is suffering a dearth of affordable housing as Tesla Motors moves toward opening its $5 billion battery gigafactory in 2018. Siegel will be in a prime position as thousands of new residents move into the region.

• Celebrating a new 10-year contract to remain in Las Vegas, the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo this month recorded its highest attendance ever at the Thomas & Mack Center.

In a curiously related event, less than a week later, the Cosmopolitan named a new president.

The link? Bill McBeath.

As chairman of Las Vegas Events’ board of trustees, McBeath helped keep the rodeo from galloping off to Osceola County, Fla. This month, he was named president of the Cosmopolitan, supplanting John Unwin, who is leaving the post at the end of the year.

McBeath served as president and chief operating officer of CityCenter when it opened in 2009. He is a dynamic personality, is experienced in Strip hotel management, is well-connected and was a good face and fit for previous resorts gigs at Treasure Island, Mirage and Bellagio.

Unwin successfully directed the slick, hip and distinctive Cosmopolitan. Its restaurants are among the best in the city, and its entertainment is top-notch.

But the resort has never turned an annual profit. The new owners, an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Partners, are going to want to make money.

They’ve saddled up with a longtime Strip honcho to make it happen.

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