For Sale Sign in front of Rio

The ownership of the Rio All-Suite Hotel could be changing hands soon.

The Harrah's owned Rio has been rumored to be on the selling block for some time now. I remember hearing that Penn National wanted to buy it a few months ago.

Now Starwood and Colony Capital seem to be the main bidders according to Bloomberg Businessweek. The property is estimated to be worth about $500 million.

Harrah's has a huge about of debt, but that didn't stop them from acquiring Planet Hollywood recently. I'm guessing that now that they have another strip property, they want to pay down that debt a little bit, and the off strip Rio has become expendable.