Israel-Based Hoteliers Mulling Over Casino Development Plans
Las Vegas Strip
As per a report published by a local news outlet Las Vegas Review-Journal, a new casino complex and hotel might be developed at the southern edge of the Las Vegas Strip in the next couple of years by two Israel-based hoteliers. The hotel owners recently bought a dilapidated 1960-built Motel 8 and dropped a hint of bulldozing the structure to make room for a new casino.
The report revealed that the two Israeli entrepreneurs Benny Zerah and Asher Gabay signed the purchase agreement for the motel on July 13 and locked the deal at a whopping $7.4 million. The Motel 8 enjoys a prime location at the southern end of the famous Las Vegas Strip, adjacent to Mandalay Bay.
According to the report published by Review-Journal, the Motel 8 possesses a rather interesting backstory. The legal documents for the property revealed that its late owner had transferred the ownership of the motel to a trust that he had created with his mistress, without intimating his estranged wife about the same. The owner subsequently passed away in 2009. The wife sued the mistress for the ownership of the property and was awarded half-ownership by a Clark County four years later.
In an interview with the Review-Journal, Asher Gabay revealed his intentions of razing the Motel 8 and nearby convenience store Mr. Deli to the ground, and developing a new casino complex and hotel at the location. However, the Israeli entrepreneurs remained pretty tight-mouthed about how they would go about transforming the one-acre land, ending the conversation by saying that they would reveal more details in the coming months.
In response to the hoteliers’ claim, a Clark County spokesperson told the Review-Journal that no official plans or blueprints for the transformation of the said site have been filed yet with either the regulators or the county officials. The news of the aforementioned prospective casino complex development has come at a time when both the Las Vegas Strip as well as the Downtown Vegas have become a burgeoning market for casino developers.
It has been ten years since the city was hit by the Great Recession. As such, Las Vegas can finally witness signs of recuperating from a battered economy with major industries and developers (both local and foreign) eyeing the opportunity of expanding their operations in the local market.
