Elvis Themed Resort Being Planned for Vegas

Andrew Calvo | April 2, 2008 | 0 Comments

I’m a little surprised that it’s taken this long to occur – but Las Vegas is going to be getting its first Elvis-themed hotel & casino – located right on the center of the strip. The interesting part about this story is who is building it – Robert F.X. Sillerman – Chairman & CEO of CKX, the company which owns American Idol (and you thought it was Simon Cowell) and the rights to Elvis Presley & Muhammed Ali. In addition, Sillerman owns Flag Luxury Properties, which is currently working with Starwood Capital in building the Baccarat Hotel in Anguilla, as well as a part owner in the group taking over (with Barry Sternlicht) the Riveria Casino just north on the Vegas Strip.

For awhile now, Flag Luxury Properties’ website had “18 Acres in the Center of the Las Vegas Strip” as one of their properties. Actual location is south of the Planet Hollywood and north of the MGM Grand. Not much information was posted about the property or the plans except that it would be “positioned as a phased master plan development”. Currently the property is home to a bunch of small commercial buildings and a small motel tower, even though it is “developed” (it’s not vacant raw land) it is one of the few areas on the strip that has not yet been overtaken by a casino.

Location of property in the center of map

Looks like that’s about to change.

Back in 2005 Robert Sillerman purchased the rights to Elvis Presley as well as Graceland with the intention of furthering development of the brand. At the time, it was rumored that he might possibly build an Elvis Presley Casino in Las Vegas – but the location was never speculated or mentioned. Now it seems as though the property on Flag Luxury Properties’ website is going to be at least partially made up of the Elvis and Muhammad Ali resort. In addition the property will also contain “retail, commercial, and residential development”. The entire project is contingent on financing and is tentatively scheduled to break ground in early 2009.

None of this was released via a typical press release – it was all contained within a SEC filing for the FX Real Estate firm, so it can be argued that this project isn’t even officially announced and is still very much on the drawing board – but one thing is clear, it is on the drawing board and it is seriously being considered. With all the current difficulty in receiving financing for this type of development – especially in Las Vegas – I think its a good possibility that the project may be delayed a number of years, but I would never see Sillerman disposing of the property. It’s much too valuable and even this market downturn will end eventually.

I had originally thought that this property would be home to Las Vegas’s first Baccarat Resort & Casino, especially since Barry Sternlicht has had a long relationship with Robert and his company starting back in the days when Flag Luxury’s Tenemos, Anguilla resort was branded as a St. Regis Hotel, now as we all know, the hotel portion of the resort is being re-branded as a Baccarat Hotel.

Ideally, this is a much better location for a Elvis Presley/Ali resort rather than a Baccarat resort due to its location smack in the middle of the Vegas Strip – directly across the street from MGM’s City Center project and the Cosmopolitan Resort which probably will end up being the W Las Vegas. With W finally making it’s entry into Vegas, along with the City Center Project, this two or three block area can easily become the busiest area on the strip if only for people walking through the shopping areas as well as the thousands of transient residents soon to be calling the Vegas Strip “home”.

Once again – this type of project just makes my mouth water! We’re seeing the beginning of a creation which could possibly change the image of the Vegas Strip as well as be recognized worldwide.

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