MGM, Station, Boyd donate $7.5 million for new hotel college building at UNLV

By Ian Whitaker

Tuesday, June 23, 2015 | 11:59 a.m.

A trio of local gaming industry giants have contributed $7.5 million toward construction of a state-of-the-art hospitality building at UNLV, the university announced this week.

Station Casinos, MGM Resorts International and Boyd Gaming, a longtime contributor to the university, each gifted $2.5 million toward the creation of Hospitality Hall, a 93,000 square foot facility of classrooms, laboratories and meeting space.

“The significance of these gifts for the college and for the overall success of the project cannot be overstated,” hotel college Dean Stowe Shoemaker said in a statement. “The support of industry giants like MGM, Boyd and Station Casinos represents a huge investment in our students and our future standing in the hospitality arena.”

The university said the building will feature "sweeping views of the Las Vegas Strip and serve as a bridge to hospitality and gaming industry." Currently, much of the hotel college's operations are centered in the Stan Fulton Building, which sits in a relatively remote part of the campus along Flamingo Road.

Hospitality Hall will be erected on the university's North Field, right outside the Lied Library in the heart of campus.

The donations come after the legislature and Gov. Brian Sandoval just approved $24.4 million in funding for the building. Fundraising started in 2010 with a $2.5 million donation from Caesars Entertainment, which was followed up in 2014 with $2.5 million from Konami Corporation and Las Vegas Sands.

The donations bring UNLV within $17 million of the project's total cost of $56 million. The remaining money will come from UNLV's own coffers.

The university expects to break ground as early as the end of this year.