Sarah Feldberg
If there's one thing Las Vegas loves more than an implosion, it's an opening. The red carpet, the ribbon cutting, the flutes full of champagne bubbles and the inevitable fireworks. The feeling of poking around when everything is still fresh and unblemished, before drinks have been spilled and dirt tracked in, when the place still has that new-casino smell.
I remember the grand opening of the SLS Las Vegas in August 2014. The building was old, it was the frame of the former Sahara casino, but everything inside was new. Under the watch of SBE founder and CEO Sam Nazarian, the place had been gutted and rebuilt, piece by piece, at the cost of $415 million. It was the first big resort opening since the Cosmopolitan in 2010, and it was thrilling.
Rapper Iggy Azalea declared her own fanciness to a packed crowd at the pool. The Bazaar Meat and Cleo restaurants served extravagant spreads. Supermodel Cindy Crawford, MMA fighter Chuck Liddell and USA Soccer midfielder Jermaine Jones relaxed on the Sayers Club patio. The crowd seemed heavy on aspiring models, presumably imported from Los Angeles to give the party a more exclusive vibe.
"Prepare to be impressed," declared the Los Angeles Times of the debuting north Strip resort.
Frankly, I was. In a petite-by-Vegas-standards package, the SLS had assembled a slew of enticing attractions. There was Jose Andres' masterful meaterie, Bazaar Meat; the intimate Sayers Club concert venue; a pair of nightspots for raucous parties or low-key lounging; and a gourmet burger joint with an outdoor beer garden looking directly onto Las Vegas Boulevard. Bridging the geographical divide between the center of the Strip and Downtown Las Vegas, the SLS felt primed for success.
Only that success hasn't materialized. At least not yet. And after almost three years, owners Las Vegas Resort Holdings (part of Stockbridge Capital Partners) recently announced the sale of the property to Alex Meruelo and the Meruelo Group.
The Meruelo Group is a privately owned holding company with diverse interests in construction, hospitality, food and media. The company acquired the L.A.-based Spanish-language television station KWHY in 2011 and owns the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, a 1,995-room property in Reno, Nev.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire a premier gaming property on the world-famous Las Vegas Strip," said Meruelo, the company chairman and CEO, via a statement. "We look forward to bringing our experience and successful track record as a casino/hotel owner, and to leverage our Los Angeles-based media and entertainment properties to position the SLS as one of the most desired destinations in Las Vegas."
That, evidently, is easier said than done.
After launching with a literal bang of pyrotechnic bombast, the SLS failed to turn a profit in its first year on the Strip, and after gaming regulators barred Nazarian from casino operations following revelations about drug use and extortion, the businessman sold his 10% stake in the hotel to Stockbridge in 2015.
Later that year the property partnered with then-Starwood Hotels to incorporate the casino into its Tribute Portfolio collection, and last December the hotel's Lux Tower was rebranded as the W Las Vegas, managed by Marriott. According to a W Hotels spokesperson, the tower's daily operations will be unaffected by the sale.
However, chief among the challenges for the SLS's new owners will be overcoming its physical location, marooned on the north edge of the Strip where foot traffic is minimal and other projects have yet to arrive or failed to deliver much of a lift. The Rock in Rio festival came and went in a single year, and Genting Group's Resorts World Las Vegas, under construction across from the Wynn, recently pushed its opening date back to 2020.
With a casino customer base already established in Reno, the Meruelo Group may be better positioned to handle the hotel's awkward address until the rest of the neighborhood can rise to meet it. Here's hoping they find the success that's eluded the SLS thus far.