Station Casinos is busy building, but next big Las Vegas project still undecided

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Station Casinos executives have yet to say what their next move will be in developing a new resort in the Las Vegas valley.

If it were a horse race, Inspirada, Skye Canyon and property along Interstate 15 at Cactus Avenue would seem to be the favorites. But executives are in no hurry to name a frontrunner. The Cactus site is a “hybrid” location that would probably be a larger project than Inspirada, bringing the benefits of high growth and a location along Las Vegas Boulevard in the south valley.

“We’ve got a lot of irons in the fire in the first and second quarter,” Red Rock Resorts President Scott Kreeger said Thursday during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. Red Rock is the publicly traded parent company for Station Casinos. He said they would evaluate the market before deciding on its next direction.

Outside of Nevada, Stations is now building a $785 million resort north of Fresno, California. It’s a tribal casino known as North Fork, expected to open in 2026. Executives say nearly 6 million people live within two hours of the site.

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Durango Casino & Resort is Stations’ priority in Las Vegas right now, with the first phase of an expansion set to expand the casino by about 25,000 square feet, adding 230 slot machines — 120 for high-limit customers. There’s also a new parking garage in the works, adding 2,000 parking spots.

The expansion at Durango will cost $116 million and take a year to complete. And that’s just phase one of the expansion. The additional parking is a must before phase two of an expansion can begin. Officials have said that could go one of two directions — business and convention facilities, or entertainment venues such as a movie theater or a dance hall.

Executives are watching demand closely through the entire process. Durango and the sites that are next up for hotel-casinos are in new areas that are growing fast. Demand could be different in each of the areas being explored before any construction begins.

Stations owns 450 acres of developable land around the valley, putting it in a unique position to chart out their growth without having to spend money on real estate. They can afford to let development catch up, as it did quickly around the Durango property. Kreeger described the sites as “maturing.”

In addition to Inspirada, Skye Canyon and Cactus, Stations also has the site of the former Wild West casino on Tropicana Avenue, a site at Losee Road and the Northern 215 Beltway, and a 58-acre site on Town Center Drive just west of the 215 Beltway.

In the meantime, officials have big plans in store at Sunset Station and Green Valley Ranch.

At Sunset Station, $53 million in improvements are in store to build around the new sportsbook. The Henderson area — particularly the Cadence development — is expected to fuel growth and build the customer base for casinos in the area. A casino refresh, a country-western bar, a Mexican restaurant, and a new center bar are part of the project and work has already started. A Yardhouse restaurant recently opened at Sunset.

At Green Valley Ranch, Stations is spending $150 for a complete refresh of the property’s nearly 500 hotel rooms. Work is expected to begin in June 2025 and take about five months.

Also, Stations recently opened its first Seventy-Six brand tavern on the north edge of the valley, not far from the North Las Vegas VA Medical Center. So far, that tavern is outpacing expectations, Kreeger said. A second Seventy-Six location will open in January near the Northern 215 Beltway at Aliante Parkway, and a third is expected to open in June. The company could open as many as seven of the taverns over the next year and a half.

Red Rock Resorts posted earnings of $182.7 million on $468 million in third-quarter revenues. Stephen L. Cootey, executive vice president, CFO and treasurer for Red Rock Resorts, described it as the best third quarter in the company’s history.

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