Property values may soar as Las Vegas Convention Center expands

A hotel next to the Las Vegas Convention Center traded for a hefty sum this week, with the sellers fetching a lot more than they paid a few years ago.

Investment firm Rockpoint Group and hotel operator Highgate partnered to buy the Renaissance Las Vegas, 3400 Paradise Road, for $177.9 million, according to property records and a broker with knowledge of the deal.

The sale, by Wheelock Street Capital, closed Monday. The 14-story, 548-room nongaming hotel traded for more than 40 percent above its previous sales price in 2015, reportedly $125 million.

The sale is the latest in a series of deals or project ideas that have taken shape in the past year near the convention center, which is poised for a $1.4 billion overhaul.

Wheelock’s director of hotel investments, Patrick Campbell, said Friday that the company spent about $8 million remodeling and upgrading the property.

He confirmed the sale but declined to comment on the price or the buyer.

Rockpoint declined to comment, and Highgate did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

CBRE Group broker Michael Parks, a member of its global gaming group, said the Renaissance’s sales price reflects its increased performance in recent years, including higher occupancy and room rates, and Las Vegas’ improved visitors market.

The proximity to the convention center also helps, he said, adding that it’s “one of the attributes that made the (hotel) attractive for investors.”

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority plans to expand the convention center by 1.4 million square feet by 2021, then renovate the existing 3.2 million-square-foot facility.

The Renaissance’s buyers aren’t the only ones to acquire property or draw up project plans nearby.

Developer Triple Five bought almost five acres on Convention Center Drive last fall for $16 million, adding to its holdings in the area. At the time, a Triple Five executive said the company was looking to build a hotel at least 35 to 40 stories tall, and that the company didn’t want to construct anything that would harm the convention center expansion.

DG Development Corp. founder Daniel Grimm has laid out plans for a six-story hotel and a 300-unit apartment complex near the convention center, and he intended to time his hotel construction with the convention center’s. Also, Chicago-based GEM Realty Capital acquired the 24-story SpringHill Suites hotel, a short walk from the convention center, for $50.5 million last summer.

The Renaissance, which features ENVY Steakhouse (bone-in ribeye, $58) and a pool area with pingpong and shuffleboard, opened in 2004.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.