Dive Brief:
- M Resort Spa Casino Las Vegas in Henderson, Nevada, will open its second hotel tower, an approximately $206 million project, to guests in December, parent company Penn Entertainment announced Wednesday.
- When open, the new tower will nearly double the capacity of M Resort, bringing its key count to 765 rooms and suites. The addition also adds meeting space, including a 15,000-square-foot ballroom slated to open next month.
- The tower is one of several “growth projects” Penn Entertainment announced in 2022, and the second to be completed. Other projects underway include a casino in Aurora, Illinois, and a hotel in Columbus, Ohio.
Dive Insight:
In conjunction with the tower opening, M Resort has partnered with The Emeril Group to bring New Orleans restaurant Meril to its property.
The new tower and restaurant will provide “much needed additional room capacity for group business and the overall strong demand of the Henderson locals market,” said Penn Entertainment President and CEO Jay Snowden, in a statement. The additional capacity will also help M Resort better perform in its role as “Official Raiders Team Headquarters Hotel,” the result of a 2020-announced partnership between the resort and the Las Vegas Raiders.
Several Las Vegas resort operators cited group travel as a bright spot in second-quarter earnings calls this year.
For the M Resort development, Penn expects to tap into $150 million in funding from Gaming and Leisure Properties at a 7.79% capitalization rate in the coming fourth quarter.
The Henderson opening comes “on the heels of our recent grand opening of the new Hollywood Casino Joliet in Illinois,” Snowden said, referring to Penn Entertainment moving its riverboat casino to a land-based location in Joliet, Illinois, earlier this year.
Penn Entertainment plans to relocate another riverboat casino to land in Aurora, Illinois, as well as open a casino in Columbus.
Elsewhere in the Las Vegas area, Wynn Resorts recently resumed construction on its Encore Tower remodel, which it suspended earlier this year amid tariff concerns.
