Boyd Gaming Changes Plans for North Las Vegas Casino
North Las Vegas has become a growing mecca for local-oriented casino operations. Boyd Gaming wants to be a part of the city's developing casino industry, and has found an interesting method to establish itself.
Boyd had previously purchased a forty-acre parcel in North Las Vegas, intending to erect a casino there. However, the proximity of Station Casinos' new Aliante Station Casino, which opens later this year, has made that location problematic.
Instead, Boyd intends to take a lesson from Station and develop a casino a few miles away, at a planned development, in partnership with the developer, Olympia Group.
Station Casinos has found partnering with developers to be a lucrative method to opening casinos, and Boyd has noticed. Station worked with American Nevada Company to build both Aliante Station in North Las Vegas and Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, allowing for an integrated community that includes surrounding retail and commercial properties.
Boyd sees the opportunity to sell its other land parcel to residential developers, and partner with Olympia in an area commercially zoned, in which surrounding projects will be controlled by Olympia. Although the new site is not yet zoned for gaming, Boyd thinks it can persuade the city to switch its zoning from the previous site.
Although North Las Vegas casinos have been in a downturn due to national economic conditions, the area's inexpensive housing is considered a likely draw for new labor forces drawn to town by multibillion dollar construction ongoing in the Las Vegas Strip area. Casino management expects the new influx of population will help turn growth positive as soon as 2009.
