Station Casinos building new Wildfire-branded venue in downtown Las Vegas
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Casino and hotel company Station Casinos is building a new project in downtown Las Vegas. It comes as work is already underway on another company project in the Las Vegas Valley -the $750 million Durango Casino & Resort-, but this new, and thus far unnamed project, is set to be much smaller in scale.
According to a Las Vegas Review-Journalreport, work crews are now building a Wildfire casino on Fremont Street, just south of Charleston Boulevard, in the downtown area. City records retrieved by the cited source show the one-story project will span more than 21,000 square feet and sit on a 5-acre plot of land.
Station, a subsidiary of Red Rock Resorts, already operates 10 Wildfire-branded casinos, including seven in Henderson. These are typically heavy on slot machines and video poker with casual dining options, mostly catering to locals. In a statement Friday, the company said it is “excited to bring a new Wildfire casino with fresh new amenities to the local residents of downtown Las Vegas.”
“As the site is under construction, we will have more details in the coming weeks,” Station Casinos further said. Thus far, it is known the project will occupy part of the former Castaways site, which the company purchased in 2004: the hotel had been closed for months when Station acquired it, and it was ultimately demolished.
Bentar Development owner Amador Bengochea, who bought 25 acres of the site from Station in 2018, has ushered in plenty of construction. He developed a 344-unit apartment complex, a mini-storage facility and a building that the Southern Nevada Health District plans to occupy. He has confirmed he is building Wildfire for Station as a contractor, according to Review-Journal.
Station already owns other parcels around Southern Nevada. Among them is the parcel where the currently under-construction Durango hotel-casino will sit. The venue, much larger in scale, will be developed on roughly 50 acres, with an adjacent 21 acres held for sale. Station first acquired the site about two decades ago, but broke ground on the resort this year.
The proposed resort in Rhodes Ranch is to be built along Durango Drive, beside the Las Vegas Beltway. Station first purchased the property from developer Jim Rhodes in 2000, and plans were initially announced four years after site acquisition, but the process faced opposition and delays along the way, including the Great Recession of 2007.
The Durango project is expected to span about 533,000 square feet and feature more than 73,000 square feet of casino space and a sportsbook. It will also include 200-plus hotel rooms, restaurants, meeting space, and more. Station casinos broke ground on the project in March, which is slated to be finished by late 2023.
In a recent conference call, company officials said they were seeking to double Station’s presence in the valley, and hinted that other big resorts could follow. The business has owned land tracts for years without visible activity on them, including about 300 acres throughout Southern Nevada.
Parent Red Rock Resorts has long been a dominant player in the locals market, and these recent moves would help cement that status. The Southwest Las Vegas area is one the company has labeled as “underserved” in the past.
