Las Vegas Strip's Fashion Show Mall will add a casino

At only 4.2 square miles, the Las Vegas Strip has very little open room for development. That's even more true when you look at the south and central strips where Caesars and MGM have clustered their resort casino properties.

The north Strip has some remaining open land, but it remains a question as to whether that area can become the draw that the south and central sections are. It's possible with Resorts World Las Vegas paving the way and Fontainebleau Las Vegas opening nearby later this year, but it's by no means certain.

That has made any buildable site on the south or central Strip incredibly valuable. And, with no new land available, either something old needs to go, or builders need to get creative in order to add new properties. 

Hard Rock International, for example, will sacrifice the famed Mirage Volcano in order to build its signature guitar hotel. That's not a popular move, but the only other option for the company was to demolish the main Mirage towers and that would leave the company without a revenue source while spending hundreds of millions (perhaps over $1 billion) on building its new hotel/casino.

Tropicana, the second oldest resort casino on the Strip after Caesars' Flamingo will also soon face the wrecking ball. That property will be cleared to make way for a new baseball stadium which will be the new home for the Oakland (soon to be Las Vegas) Athletics.

If you can't get rid of a property to create a clear site, you can always build up. That's what's happening at the Casino Royale/Best Western property tucked in the middle of a number of Caesars Entertainment (CZR) - Get Free Report properties. 

"The owners of the casino hotel, a Strip fixture since 1964, just received FAA approval to build a 699-foot tower in the space," Casino.org first reported. "The Casino Royale’s owners, Best Western, have until Jan. 21, 2025, to build their tower, or else the FAA’s approval will expire."

That same "go tall" philosophy will be the strategy used at another iconic Las Vegas Strip site which is slated to become the home of a new casino.

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Fashion Show Mall will add a casino

Having opened in 1981, Fashion Show Mall has become a Las Vegas Strip institution. The tenants have changed over the years, but the mall has long been one of the most successful in the U.S. and it remains the largest mall in Las Vegas.

Now, the mall's owner, Howard Hughes Holdings, has new plans for the property. The company has set up a new division, Seaport Entertainment, which will include its entertainment-related assets in New York and Las Vegas.

Those include the Seaport in Lower Manhattan and the Las Vegas Aviators

Triple-A Minor League Baseball team, as well as the company's ownership stake in Jean-Georges Restaurants and its 80% interest in the air rights above the Fashion Show Mall.

Those air rights will be used to create a new casino on the Las Vegas Strip. That will happen on top of the mall, which will continue to operate as it always has.

No formal plan to build a casino has been filed with Clark County Commissioners nor has the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) conducted a safety study on the site. The FAA, according to federal law, has the right to conduct a study to make sure that any proposed building will not impact air traffic. 

So far, Howard Hughes Holdings has simply shared its intentions as part of a press release about Anton D. Nikodemus being named CEO of the new spinoff. The spinoff is expected to be completed by the end of 2024, although the company said that the timeline could change.