Category Archive : Investing

LAS VEGAS, NV – Formula 1, the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), has revealed the extent of their considerable investment in their upcoming Las Vegas-based Grand Prix location, which is slated to take place in the center of the city – with the track situated partly on the Las Vegas Strip – starting in November 2023.

Formula 1 will be putting $240 million into the street-based night race as part of a multi-year deal with the city, making the event their third annual Grand Prix in the United States, following the United States Grand Prix at Austin, Texas and the Miami, Florida Grand Prix.

The $240 million that Formula 1 will be investing will be going to the acquisition of a 39-acre site in Las Vegas – located north east of East Harmon Avenue and Koval Lane – in order to build a permanent pits and paddock facility, according to Greg Maffei, CEO and President of Liberty Media, Formula 1’s commercial rights holder.

“Liberty Media did enter an agreement to acquire 39 acres east of the strip to lock in circuit design and capacity for the pits and paddock, among other hospitality and race support venues,” Maffei said at a press event last Friday.

Maffei noted that Colorado-based Liberty Media’s decision to promote the Grand Prix in Las Vegas in conjunction with local partners was driven by several factors.

“One is proximity: It’s fairly easy relatively to being in Denver to get to Vegas for us to do the work and we have knowledge of local US market relative to many other markets,” he said. “But more importantly we see the opportunity of being a promoter is a way to expand our understanding of the business, understand how to be the best F1 product on the track for other promoters as well, and to look at the opportunity to grow our knowledge and understanding and potentially promote other races down the road.”

“Vegas is going to be large and a perhaps unique opportunity so from a financial perspective we think this one sets up pretty well to be worth the time/extra focus to become the promoter,” Maffei added.

Formula 1 cars are the fastest regulated road-course racing cars in the world, and the Grand Prix races take place worldwide on both purpose-built circuits and closed public roads.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Easily ranking as one of the largest real estate sales the Las Vegas Strip has ever seen, VICI Properties Inc. announced this week that they have completed their acquisition of Las Vegas’ MGM Growth Properties LLC for $17.2 billion, which has increased the buyer’s presence on the Strip in the form of multiple hotel resorts and casinos.

The deal, which was first announced in August 2021, results in VICI Properties acquiring a large amount of Las Vegas Boulevard-based, MGM Resorts-operated properties, including Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, The Mirage, Park MGM, New York-New York, Luxor and Excalibur.

The acquisition also includes several other casinos located in other states, such as the MGM Grand Detroit and MGM National Harbor near Washington, D.C.

Overall, the merger will likely not result in any outward changes to the properties in question, as VICI will not be overseeing the day-to-day operations of the properties, but instead will merely be collecting rent from the management companies that do. While the deal includes VICI Properties assuming $5.7 billion of MGM’s debt, the company is also standing to receive over $1 billion in rent on an annual basis from their new acquisitions.

As a result of the purchase, VICI Properties is now one of the biggest property owners on Las Vegas Boulevard, with the firm now owning a whopping ten resorts on the Strip; this represents approximately 40,775 hotel rooms, 1.2 million square feet of casino space, and 5.9 million square feet of meeting and convention space.

“The addition of the MGP portfolio, together with the recent closing of our Venetian acquisition, elevates VICI to the top ranks of American four-wall [real estate investment trusts], making VICI a top-5 REIT by [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization] and a top-10 REIT by enterprise value,” said VICI CEO Edward Pitoniak. “We also become the largest owner of hotel and conference real estate in America, within what we believe is the superior transparency and integrity of the Triple Net Lease model.”

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – While there haven’t been many ‘motels’ on the Las Vegas Strip in recent years amid the massive hotels and casino resorts that the roadway has become well-known for, one of the remaining holdouts – the Travelodge Motel – was listed on the market for a whopping $52 million.

Situated next to Circus Circus Hotel and Casino, the Travelodge – located on a 1.8-acre plot of land on the northern part of the Strip – boasts 100 rooms spread out over two stories, and the sale also includes a three-story commercial building next door on Las Vegas Boulevard as well as the Bonanza Gift Shop, a souvenir shop catering to local tourists looking to purchase Vegas memorabilia.

Haim Gabay, the current owner of the Travelodge, appears to be trying to take advantage of the recent uptick in development in the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip recently, with that part of the roadway plagued for years by unfinished construction and a lack of foot traffic. The new effort to develop that section of town is already having a positive effect and is drawing the eyes of investors, making this likely a unique opportunity to list the Travelodge on the market.

The Travelodge is located across from the still-in-development Fontainebleau Las Vegas, a 67-story hotel resort that is scheduled to open in 2023, and adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center’s newly-opened West Hall and the $4.3 billion, 3,500-room Resorts World Las Vegas. Also of note is a 10 acre-lot nearby recently purchased by a Chilean developer, although exact plans for that project have yet to be revealed.

While few in number currently, the Travelodge isn’t the only motel to call the Las Vegas Strip home; others include Diamond Inn, Motel 8 Plus, and the former White Sands, a long-closed motel across from the Luxor.

However, the $52 million asking price for Travelodge is significant, experts say, especially when compared to White Sands’ current sale price of $12 million and what the Motel 8 Plus recently sold for, $7.4 million in 2018. Time will tell if Gabay gets any takers, or if he will be forced to lower his price.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – A new $3 billion entertainment venue has been announced by developer Oak View Group that will be constructed south of the famed Las Vegas Strip that will feature a plethora of attractions sure to appeal to both tourists and local residents.

Oak View Group has been behind the development of several high-profile venues across the country in recent years, including the $1.5 billion UBS Arena at Belmont Park in New York and the rebuilding of Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena.

However, Oak View is now throwing their considerable weight behind the Las Vegas entertainment industry – which is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic – with an as-yet unnamed entertainment project that is scheduled to officially break ground in 2023.

As it is currently envisioned, the facility will feature an 850,000-square-foot arena, a casino, a hotel and an additional amphitheater to host concerts, sports events, family entertainment, conventions and award shows.

The project is slated to be built upon a 25-acre plot of land that is located on over 66 acres situated in the vicinity of two major freeways, I-15 and I-215. The venue is being designed by two prominent architecture firms – Gensler and Populous – and construction duties will be handled by President of Global Venue Development and Special Projects at Oak View Group, Steve Collins.

The news of this project comes amid the slow-but-sure recovery of the Las Vegas tourism industry post-COVID; in February, 2.6 million people visited Las Vegas, near 70 percent more than February in 2021, but still 1 million fewer than February 2019. Nonetheless, local hotel and recreation-related construction saw an increase of 67 percent year-over-year from 2020 to 2021, which is indeed a positive sign.

However, pandemic and supply chain issues have created hurdles for this development recently, with major projects originally scheduled to debut in 2022 – such as the Fontainebleau Las Vegas and the MSG Sphere – delayed to 2023.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – A growing number of homebuyers in the Southern Nevada region are paying for their purchases in cold, hard cash as opposed to taking out mortgages, a recent report says, which could be fueled by several factors, including investment and the arrival of affluent transplants from neighboring states.

The Las Vegas Realtors group report released last Wednesday indicates that 32 percent of all property transactions that took place during March 2022 – which includes existing homes, condominiums and townhomes – were paid for in full with cash, which is an increase of 8 percent over the same period of time one year prior.

Experts say there are numerous factors that could be contributing to the increase in cash real estate purchases in Southern Nevada as of late, such as an increase in investors sinking their money into the market. In addition, there has been an influx of new, wealthy residents to the region from neighboring markets such as California, where homes overall are far pricier; after selling of their old homes, these new transplants to Nevada are flush with cash and ready to take advantage of the comparatively lower home prices.

The median price for an exiting home in Las Vegas in March was $460,000 – yet another record amount – and the median price for a condominium or townhome was $270,000; compare that amount to the median home price in Los Angeles, which came in at an astonishing $935,640. With those numbers in mind, it’s no wonder that California homeowners are cashing out and fleeing for neighboring states such as Nevada with a lower cost of living.

However, this bump in cash sales, while significant, is nonetheless still less then Vegas’ peak rate which in 2013 following the recession, where the number of cash-based transactions hit a whopping 60 percent.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – An investment group is currently in the process of sinking some impressive capital into Las Vegas, with 13 rundown rental properties located in the city’s downtown area currently in the midst of major renovations before eventually being put back on the market for sale once they are complete.

Property management and construction company Las Vegas Apartments Corporation has a history of purchasing vacant or dilapidated properties in Las Vegas’ downtown, putting money into fixing them up, and then flipping them on the open market in an effort to “revitalize” the area.

Currently, the group is the second-highest volume property owner in downtown Vegas, according to reports, with 13 properties currently under their belt – all of which are in varying degrees of renovation; once work is finished, they will all be put up for sale.

The most recent fixer-upper property that Las Vegas Apartments Corporation purchased, renovated, and successfully flipped was 10-unit apartment complex at 211 South 13th Street, off the corner of Carson Avenue; the group bought the building in 2018 for $675,000, and closed on it last Friday for $2.7 million, representing a significant return on their initial investment.

The irony is that Las Vegas Apartments Corporation hadn’t fully completed their renovations on the complex when they sold it for that whopping amount, but the demand for housing on 13th Street was so strong they were unable to pass up the huge offers they were receiving for the unfinished project.

Part of the deal, reports say, includes extending the leasing of the current tenants that currently reside in the apartment complex.

Next on Las Vegas Apartments Corporation’s to-do list is the renovation of the 1950′s era Safari Motel, a project that the group has only just acquired the permits for; upon completion of the repairs, the motel will be master leased to Veterans Affairs, according to reports.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Developers who have an already very established presence in Southern Nevada are teaming up to embark on a new project to build a huge industrial park in Northern Las Vegas, which is slated to include a series of large warehouses and other related structures that are sure to be a boon to the local business community.

Moonwater Capital and Western States Contracting will be co-developing multiple buildings in Apex Industrial Park, a facility situated upon thousands of acres of land that has not seen much in the way of use in recent years, until now, that is.

The project calls for several large-scale warehouses to be constructed upon 300 acres of the property, starting with an initial warehouse that is anticipated to be over 900,000 square-feet in size upon completion; groundbreaking on that building is expected to take place in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Moonwater representatives.

Currently, Apex is mainly comprised of empty desert land, but the property – located off Interstate 15 at U.S. Highway 93 in North Las Vegas – offers vast potential for development, with the main factor for its disuse until recently being a lack of infrastructure due to its remote location.

However, Moonwater Capital and Western States Contracting are aiming to change all of that, with work already underway on establishing the needed infrastructure; it has been confirmed that electricity has been installed in Apex, and the developers have recently entered into an agreement with the city of North Las Vegas on a water pipeline. In addition, other needed additions – such as sewers and gas – are in the works as well.

Demand for warehouses in the Southern Nevada region have increased in recent years, due mainly to the COVID-19 pandemic, which increased the degree of online shopping local residents have engaged in; this, in turn, has increased the need for distribution space, which the new development at Apex Industrial Park aims to address.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Located in Downtown Henderson, The Pass Casino – formerly known as the Eldorado, until it was sold in late 2020 – has announced plans to add onto the establishment by building a six-story Atwell Suites-branded hotel on the property.

Developer Joe DeSimone, who renovated and renamed the Eldorado upon its purchase for an undisclosed price, has filed plans with the city of Henderson to construct the approximately $20 million hotel, which is slated to have 90 rooms. While a specific date has not yet been decided for the project’s groundbreaking, it is anticipated to take place in either September or October, reports say.

The Atwell Suites hotel – a brand of British-owned IHG Hotels & Resorts – is expected to offer a variety of amenities for guests, such as a pool and wine bar; however, construction of a dedicated parking garage is not necessary, DeSimone notes, since The Pass itself already possesses one that will be adequate enough to serve the needs of the hotel as well.

DeSimone, founder and owner of First Federal Realty DeSimone, said that building a hotel for The Pass is a great business move, as the casino’s location at 140 Water Street is centrally located in an up-and-coming area.

Recently, the once quiet Water Street has seen a large increase in foot traffic as breweries, restaurants, an ice rink, and other entertainment options have been added in recent years. DeSimone noted that The Pass has benefited from the street’s current upward trajectory – calling recent business “very strong” – and said that part of his reasoning for adding the hotel is due to the fact that the area is currently without any significant hotel competition.

The nearest large-scale hotel to The Pass’ location – the Fiesta Henderson – has yet to reopen after having shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has not made any announcements regarding its future.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Recently, a Canadian real estate developer preformed a ceremonial groundbreaking on an upcoming Las Vegas-based warehouse project that, upon completion, will come in at over 250,000 square feet in size.

Ryan Beedie, who regularly travels to and spends time in Vegas – estimates that he’s been to the city as many as 200 times and counting – which influenced his decision to develop his very first-ever U.S. based project there, he said.

Last Monday, Beedie broke ground on the upcoming Pioneer Business Center, a two-building warehouse complex in the southwest valley that, upon completion which is expected by the end of 2022, will offer 261,751 square-feet of space.

Despite this being his very first construction project in Vegas, Beedie is no stranger to the local real estate marketplace, already boasting the ownership of industrial buildings and condominium towers in the northern region of the city.

Once Pioneer Business Center is completed and ready to open for business, Beedie notes he plans on selling the warehouse’s 26 units to individual buyers, as opposed to the more common practice of leasing them to tenants or selling the complex to a new landlord.

Beedie referred to this plan as his “niche in the market,” stating that it should appeal to companies put off by steadily rising rental rates in Southern Nevada; the developer has already lined up buyers for six units and counting, he said.

What should prove to be especially appealing about Beedie’s plan to sell space instead of renting it out is that for-sale warehouse space normally targets companies seeking in excess of 50,000 square feet. In contrast, Beedie will be offering smaller spaces for sale, which should interest smaller companies that don’t require the extra space; units in Pioneer Business Center, just north of Sunset Road between Tenaya Way and Buffalo Drive, will range in size from 7,791 to 13,186 square feet.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Las Vegas Sands has entered into an agreement to sell its Vegas property and operations – including the Venetian Resort and the Sands Expo and Convention Center – for a total of $6.25 billion to several companies, signifying that significant changes are likely to come for the iconic Las Vegas Strip casino.

VICI Properties Inc. will be purchasing both the land and real estate assets of the Venetian Resort and the Sands Expo and Convention Center for $4 billion in cash, reports say. In addition, Apollo Global Management – a private-equity firm – will acquire the Venetian Resort’s operating company for $2.25 billion.

The sales will be finalized once Nevada regulators have issued their approval; however, the Nevada Gaming Control Board has already “unanimously signed off on Apollo Global Management’s purchase of the Venetian, Palazzo and Venetian Expo, indicating one of the largest Las Vegas Strip asset sales announced in 2021 is closer to wrapping up.”

Reports indicate that Sands is selling its Southern Nevada properties due to the nearly insurmountable competition from Caesars and MGM, who control a large portion of the famed Las Vegas Strip. In contrast, Sands have instead pivoted their attention to their properties in Macau and Singapore, according to Chief Executive Robert Goldstein.

“This company is focused on growth, and we see meaningful opportunities on a variety of fronts,” he said. “Asia remains the backbone of this company and our developments in Macau and Singapore are the center of our attention. We will always look for ways to reinvest in our properties and those communities.”

However, Sands is still expressing a continued interest in developing and expanding their remaining assets in the United States as well, Goldstein said.

“There are also potential development opportunities domestically, where we believe significant capital investment will provide a substantial benefit to those jurisdictions while also producing very strong returns for the company,” he said.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – A developer in Las Vegas that had purchased a defunct golf course late last year has just announced plans to construct a large number of residential homes upon the property, in an effort to address the sky-high demand for living options in the Southern Nevada region.

On December 23, 2021, Touchstone Living paid $33.7 million to acquire the shuttered Royal Links Golf Club from Scottsdale Golf Group founder Shelby Futch, whose firm operated Royal Links and had recently closed down the business; the very last day members were able to tee-off was December 17, as per their website.

However, Touchstone founder Tom McCormick announced this week that he would be developing the approximately 162-acre property – located along Vegas Valley Drive about a mile east of Nellis Boulevard – by constructing over 1,600 homes upon it.

In early January, work crews already began the task of removing the golf course itself, a process that will be done in phases as trees and property are relocated around the perimeter of the new community.

McCormick noted that home construction will also be completed in phases, with an initial 1,298 homes – all attached 2-story residences – slated to be built on the main 130-acre section of Royal Links south of Vegas Valley Drive; in addition, 25 acres of the land in the section will be allocated for development into community parks.

In addition, McCormick said that another 320 homes will be constructed on the 32 acres that make up Royal Links north of Vegas Valley Drive; however, all plans for that part of the community are not yet completed and are subject to potential change.

Touchstone’s development is intended to bring lower-priced housing to the Las Vegas market, amid rising home and rent prices that are growing concerns about long-term affordability in the region.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.

LAS VEGAS, NV – Jade, a new 287-unit luxury apartment complex located near the Rio in the Las Vegas Valley, has recently sold for an incredible price, once again highlighting the strong desire that landlords and property management firms are expressing for rental units in Southern Nevada.

Ideal Capital Group, a real estate firm based out of Clovis, California, reported that they have acquired Jade for $124.5 million from developer Jonathan Fore last month; the sale price represents approximately $433,798 per unit, which experts say is much, much higher than average for an apartment complex in the Las Vegas Valley.

Jade, the newly-constructed property, is situated near the famed Las Vegas Strip, and that fact – in addition to a lack of other recent apartment construction nearby and a regular influx of new residents into the city – is why Ideal Capital chose to make the purchase, according to President and CEO Austin Herzog.

“We just believe in Vegas long-term,” he said, noting that his firm intends to hold onto the property – their first purchase in the region – for an extended period of time.

Located at 3150 West Twain Avenue near Dean Martin Drive, Jade boasts numerous high-end amenities for tenants, including smart-home panels that are compatible Amazon’s “Alexa” digital assistant service, a sky lounge, package “concierge” lockers, electric vehicle charging stations, and more.

2021 saw a whopping 193 Sothern Nevada apartment complex sales being made, far eclipsing the 91 that were sold in 2020 – a much lower number than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic – or the average of 172 per year for the last five years of the previous decade.

In addition, the average price per luxury apartment unit in 2021 was $215,151, which represents an impressive 38 percent increase over 2020.

Shelter Realty is a Real Estate and Property Management Company specializing in the areas of Henderson, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, NV. Feel free to give us a call at 702.376.7379 so we can answer any questions you may have.