A 59 year old hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, the
The Sahara Casino, known to be one of the last standing ‘Rat Pack’ hotels on the Strip, was built in a Moroccan style in the early 50’s. It was a favorite haunt of some of the biggest names in the showbiz industry, including Joey Bishop, Sammy Davis Junior, Dean Martin and ol’ Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra. The hotel, the sixth to be built on the Strip, was featured in the movie Ocean’s Eleven.
The hotel was purchased by SBE Holdings, owned by Sam Nazarian, in 2007, and he reportedly paid between $300 and $400 million for it. The entrepreneur had great plans to restore the Sahara and bring it back to its former glory, however, in a statement at the weekend, Nazarian said that “the continued operation of the aging Sahara is no longer economically viable.” He cited the downturn in gambling activity in Las Vegas due to the recession as one of the main reasons for dropping his plans to restore the hotel.
The 85,000 square foot Sahara Hotel and Casino sits on 50,000 acres of land and employs over 1,000 people. SBE’s statement did not say what the group intended to do with the hotel, as well as much of the empty lot that it sat on. However, Nazarian did venture that the group was “working with our partners to assess a variety of options for the property, including a complete renovation and repositioning.”
“We see the northern end of the Strip as the future of Las Vegas,” he said. “With Las Vegas showing early signs of recovery, we are confident that we ultimately will find a creative and comprehensive new solution for this historic property.”
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