{"id":121635,"date":"2019-12-06T08:54:41","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T16:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=121635"},"modified":"2019-12-06T11:00:38","modified_gmt":"2019-12-06T19:00:38","slug":"new-rio-las-vegas-owner-says-demolition-rumors-false","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-rio-las-vegas-owner-says-demolition-rumors-false\/","title":{"rendered":"New Rio Las Vegas Owner Says Demolition Rumors False, No Plans for MLB Ballpark"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new owner of Rio Las Vegas says those rumors regarding plans to demolish the off-Strip casino resort to make way for a MLB ballpark are bogus.<\/p>\n

\"Rio
Rio Las Vegas will remain part of the Sin City skyline. (Image: Rio Las Vegas)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chatting with the Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/i><\/a>, Eric Birnbaum, who is heading Rio’s new ownership entity, known as Dreamscape Companies, says the gossip surrounding the future of the Brazil-themed property has no merit.<\/p>\n

Instead, he says Rio’s nearly 90-acre lot along Flamingo Road just west of I-15 is prime to flourish in its new incarnation, whatever that may be.<\/p>\n

\n

We’re not doing this blindly, so we obviously have a strategy and an idea as to who our customer is and how we’re going to position the asset,” Birnbaum explained. “It’s a little premature for me to reveal exactly how we’re going to do that and what we’re going to do because we don’t want to spill the beans just yet.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He concluded, “Suffice it to say that we believe this asset has unbelievable potential.”<\/p>\n

MLB Strikeout<\/b><\/h2>\n

Eldorado Resorts, which is in the process of acquiring Caesars Entertainment for $17.3 billion, completed the sale of Rio Las Vegas to Dreamscape this week for $516.3 million. Under the terms, Caesars\/Eldorado will continue operating the casino property through a two-year leaseback in exchange for $45 million in annual rent.<\/p>\n

That provides Birnbaum plenty of time to decide what to do come late 2021 with the venue.<\/p>\n

\n

It was October 2018 when rumblings regarding the Rio<\/a> potentially being leveled to make way for a Major League Baseball stadium began circulating. The rumor mill gave some sort of reasoning for Station Casinos’ decision to pump more than $1 billion into buying and renovating the Palms Casino Resort, which is just west of Rio.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Could the billionaire Fertitta brothers have known something the rest of Southern Nevada didn’t regarding the Rio becoming the home of a Las Vegas MLB team in the years ahead? No, says Birnbaum.<\/p>\n

Caesars Loss<\/b><\/h2>\n

In 1998, Caesars \u2013 then known as Harrah’s Entertainment \u2013 purchased the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino from developer Marnell Corrao Associates for $518 million in stock and assumed debt of $303 million, for a total transaction of $821 million.<\/p>\n

Eldorado\/Caesars’ decision to unload the Rio for $516.3 million represents a 37 percent discount on what Harrah’s paid more than two decades ago.<\/p>\n

\n

However, gaming industry analysts have endorsed the decision<\/a>. “We view the transaction as a distinct positive for Eldorado\/Caesars, as it provides for healthy deleverage, while the net transaction multiple, in our view, is very strong,” Deutsche Bank’s Carlo Santarelli said in a note.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Observers have also dished their opinions on what the Rio might morph into under the new ownership.<\/p>\n

“We would expect a focus on non-gaming amenities, a potential residential component, and perhaps partnerships with hotel and hospitality brands. We don’t expect a full tear-down, but could see meaningful capital expenditures,” SunTrust Bank’s Barry Jones speculated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new owner of Rio Las Vegas says those rumors regarding plans to demolish the off-Strip casino resort to make way for a MLB ballpark are bogus. Chatting with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Eric Birnbaum, who is heading Rio’s new ownership entity, known as Dreamscape Companies, says the gossip surrounding the future of the Brazil-themed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":121639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew Rio Las Vegas Owner Says Demolition Rumors False<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The new owner of Rio Las Vegas says those rumors regarding plans to demolish the off-Strip casino resort to make way for an MLB ballpark are false.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-rio-las-vegas-owner-says-demolition-rumors-false\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Rio Las Vegas Owner Says Demolition Rumors False\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The new owner of Rio Las Vegas says those rumors regarding plans to demolish the off-Strip casino resort to make way for an MLB ballpark are false.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-rio-las-vegas-owner-says-demolition-rumors-false\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-06T16:54:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-12-06T19:00:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/D8JZardVsAETFUS.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"839\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CasinoorgDevinO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-rio-las-vegas-owner-says-demolition-rumors-false\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-rio-las-vegas-owner-says-demolition-rumors-false\/\",\"name\":\"New Rio Las Vegas Owner Says Demolition Rumors False\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-rio-las-vegas-owner-says-demolition-rumors-false\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-rio-las-vegas-owner-says-demolition-rumors-false\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/D8JZardVsAETFUS.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-06T16:54:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-06T19:00:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\"},\"description\":\"The new owner of Rio Las Vegas says those rumors regarding plans to demolish the off-Strip casino resort to make way for an MLB ballpark are false.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-rio-las-vegas-owner-says-demolition-rumors-false\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-rio-las-vegas-owner-says-demolition-rumors-false\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/new-rio-las-vegas-owner-says-demolition-rumors-false\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/D8JZardVsAETFUS.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/D8JZardVsAETFUS.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":839,\"caption\":\"Rio Las Vegas will remain part of the Sin City skyline. 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