Downtown Grand and SLS

Two closed Las Vegas hotels might be reopening in the near future.

First up is The Downtown Grand, which previously operated as Lady Luck up until it closed in 2006. In 2010 there were some rumblings about the property reopening, and they even had a 2012 target date. Obviously 2012 has come and gone, but now the property has a new name, and today they gave local newspapers a tour of what the new rooms will look like. The rooms look great, and will start at a very reasonable $69 a night. With definite progress and construction work ongoing it's looking more and more likely The Downtown Grand will be open by the end of 2013.

Next up, the closed Sahara might be reborn as SLS Las Vegas. After Sahara closed in 2011, owner Sam Nazarian claimed that he would reopen the property as SLS in 2014. Not many people believed that would actually happen, but now The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Nazarian has secured financing for the project. Some of the money is coming from EB-5, a program which gives green cards to foreigners who make investments in US businesses. The Journal article mentioned that The Downtown Grand is also using EB-5 for some of its financing. Construction for SLS is set to begin immediately, but there are still question marks, as much of the foreign EB-5 investment isn't available for use until it clears through government red tape.