- Stations Casinos has confirmed plans to demolish their three shuttered properties: Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho and Fiesta Henderson.
- The plan is to demolish the buildings and sell the land for ‘non-gaming’ use.
- The three shuttered properties have been closed since the Nevada gaming industry was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This isn’t a huge surprise, but Stations Casinos has confirmed that they will demolish Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho and Fiesta Henderson. These are the three properties that never reopened following the Nevada gaming industry shutdown necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan now is to demolish all three properties and sell the land–almost certainly to companies interested in ‘non-gaming’ use. An article in today’s Las Vegas Review-Journal indicated that a total of 107.5 acres are included in the three parcels of land.
The three properties slated for demolition never reopened after the Nevada gaming industry shutdown in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Once the state’s casinos were allowed to reopen, Stations was quick to get their other properties back on line. The majority of locations reopened on June 4, 2020 including Red Rock, Green Valley Ranch, Santa Fe Station, Boulder Station, Palace Station,Sunset Station, and their Wildfire Casino properties. At the time, Palms Las Vegas was also part of the Stations portfolio and remained closed as well. It was sold to California tribal interests on May 4, 2021 and Palms Las Vegas reopened on April 27, 2022.
Initially, the party line was that the shuttered properties would be reopened when ‘economic conditions justified’ the move. Most veteran gaming industry observers saw the ‘writing on the wall’ early, suggesting that Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho and Fiesta Henderson had reached the end of the road.
On June 29, 2020, I reported on the closed Stations properties receiving ‘temporary closure status’ from the Nevada Gaming Control Board:
So what is the future of these properties? It wouldn’t be a shock if some of them never reopened. Stations could decide that there’s too much capacity and too little demand in North Las Vegas and/or Henderson and close/unload the two Fiesta properties and Texas Station. They’re all pushing 25 years old and despite renovations along the way that’s ‘long in the tooth’ by Las Vegas standards.
Given the Palms’ proximity to The Strip and I-15 you have to think it’ll reopen at some point. The Palms was in the midst of a comprehensive renovation anyway and they could be taking this opportunity to rework the property for the post COVID-19 era. On the other hand, Stations could decide that the Palms isn’t a good fit for their locals oriented property portfolio and sell it. Time is on their side–it doesn’t make sense to sell it now when they can easily get more value out of it by waiting.
Here’s what I said about the triumvirate on September 19, 2020 ina report about the Las Vegas casinos that had yet to reopen:
All four properties are owned by Red Rock Resorts/Station Casinos and all are closed indefinitely. The Fiesta Rancho and Texas Station are in an area that was once considered ‘up and coming’ but over the past decade the majority of the growth in the Las Vegas Valley has been elsewhere. These two properties may never reopen. They could be sold or even imploded to make room for another project. The problem, however, is that there are much better places in town to build so the underlying real estate probably doesn’t have the value to justify the demolition efforts.
The Palms will likely be sold though there’s nothing in the works at this point. It was in the midst of remodeling when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down Nevada’s gaming industry and right off of I-15 not far from the new Allegiant Stadium it has a decent location. It’s not really a good fit in the Stations’ portfolio of locals oriented properties though The Palms has always tried to work ‘both sides of the street’ going after tourists while pitching locals with high slot paybacks.
The Fiesta Henderson’s future might be the most cloudy of all. In theory, Henderson is a desirable area but in actuality the Fiesta Henderson is closer to Boulder Highway–another overbuilt area in the current market environment–than it is to Henderson proper. Stations already has several properties in the area including Green Valley Ranch and Sunset Station.
In today’s LVRJ article, Richard N. Velotta explained the situation with Stations’ customer base:
The company said most of the closed casinos’ customer bases have since migrated to other Station properties. Customers of Texas Station and Fiesta Rancho, located at Lake Mead Boulevard and Rancho Drive in North Las Vegas, have moved on to Santa Fe Station to the northwest and to a Wildfire casino operation just south of Lake Mead Boulevard, while those patronizing Fiesta Henderson have moved to Sunset Station and Green Valley Ranch, both in Henderson.
There’s a lot more information to cover about the closure of these three properties. Look for more on the demise of the Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho and Fiesta Henderson over the next few days.
