The general manager of the Golden Nugget Lake Tahoe told gaming regulators last week that “every square foot of the property” would see some type of renovation during its latest redevelopment.
During a Gaming Control Board hearing in Carson City, general manager Jason Sides said the initial redevelopment phase had started on the 539-room hotel and 25,000-square-foot casino. One of the resort’s two towers has been taken offline so the improvements can be made, and he expects the first floor of renovated rooms to be available by October, just in time for the busiest months of the year.
“We have big plans for the property with a significant capital investment,” Sides told the regulators, but he did not provide a cost estimate for the project.
Following its purchase last year by Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta’s privately held Fertitta Entertainment, the property is now operating under its fifth name since its opening in the 1960s.
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Sides said a Salt Grass Steakhouse — one of several dozen restaurant brands owned by Fertitta — will open by the fall. He said Mastro’s Steak House, a high-end Fertitta restaurant brand, will also be added to the property.
On the Golden Nugget website, images show a renovated lobby area and room renderings.
“You’ll see subsequent phases of other construction [throughout the year],” Sides said. “We’ve seen a nice surge of business and a lot of bodies [in the Tahoe market] in the past few weeks. So that’s good to see.”
A representative for Fetitta’s company declined to comment beyond what was said at the hearing. The renovations are expected to be completed by 2025.
The resort has been known as Hard Rock Lake Tahoe since 2015. The Nugget is the last of the four Tahoe casinos visitors see along Highway 50 as they enter Stateline from California. The other three Stateline resorts are Bally’s Lake Tahoe and the Caesars Entertainment-owned Harvey’s and Harrah’s.
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Control board senior economic analyst Michael Lawton said the South Tahoe market saw its highest gaming revenue total in 2000 when it produced $352.6 million in gaming revenue.
Lawton said South Tahoe experienced a steep gaming revenue decline — and is almost 31 percent below its peak totals — during the last two decades due to the recession and competition from Northern California tribal casinos. In the last three years, the Sacramento area has seen the opening of three new tribal-owned casinos.
But there is hope the market will rebound.
According to the control board, South Lake Tahoe’s gaming revenue through May is 5.6 percent ahead of the first five months of 2023. Last year, the Tahoe market produced more than $243.8 million in gaming revenue, which was down 7.5 percent from 2022, but is more than 8 percent ahead of 2019, the last full year of gaming revenue for Nevada before the pandemic.
“We saw this as a great opportunity,” Fertitta told state gaming regulators a year ago. “We will take this property and totally transform it. And, as we always do, add the Golden Nugget name on it. We always expect it to be one of the top properties in the market.”
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The newly rebranded Margaritaville Resort Lake Tahoe in South Lake Tahoe, California, on Nov. 29, 2023. (Amy Alonzo/The Nevada Independent)
Investments beyond the casino floors
Tahoe has seen recent non-gaming investments.
The Golden Nugget is across from the $80 million Tahoe Blue Event Center. The 132,000-square-foot facility at the corner of U.S. Highway 50 and Lake Parkway will host conferences and concerts and will serve as the 36-game home hockey arena for the expansion ECHL’s Tahoe Knight Monsters.
On the California side of Highway 50, Orlando-based Margaritaville Resorts transformed the 399-room, non-gaming Lake Tahoe Resort Hotel into Margaritaville Resort Lake Tahoe. The renovation gave the location a Key West-style theme at the base of the Heavenly Mountain Ski Resort and adjacent to the casinos just across the state line.
The property is Fertitta’s third Golden Nugget in Nevada, along with resorts in downtown and Laughlin. Fertitta’s company also operates Golden Nugget hotel-casinos in Atlantic City, Biloxi, Mississippi, Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Cripple Creek, Colorado.
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Fertitta’s company gained preliminary approval from the control board Wednesday to finance part of last year’s acquisition of the property. The Gaming Commission is expected to take up the matter on July 25.
“Basically, Tillman Fertitta is getting paid back for his initial investment in the project,” said control board member George Assad. “It’s a pretty simple transaction, but just a lot of legal jargon.”
Fertitta announced an all-cash bid for the Hard Rock Lake Tahoe in March 2023, buying the operation from Paragon Gaming. Five months later, the deal was approved by state gaming regulators and the property took on the Golden Nugget name. The property had hundreds of music memorabilia items that were returned to Hard Rock.
The property opened in the 1960s as the Sahara Tahoe. It has also been known as the High Sierra Resort and Lake Tahoe Horizon.
Fertitta Entertainment also has plans to build a 2,420-room, 43-story hotel-casino on 6 acres at Harmon Avenue and the Strip that it acquired in 2022 for $270 million. In May, the company said it was asking Clark County for permission to connect the planned resort to a pedestrian overpass bridge.
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The company owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets and its Landry’s hospitality division includes a restaurant segment with roughly 520 outlets and entertainment attractions.
Fertitta, who is a cousin of Red Rock Resorts CEO Frank Fertitta III and Vice Chairman Lorenzo Fertitta, has also owned a 6.1 percent stake in Wynn Resorts since 2022 as a passive investment. He is the second-largest individual shareholder in the company behind Elaine Wynn.
Grass Valley, CA – January 8, 2025 – Nevada County fire agencies have mobilized to assist in combating the Palisades Fire, a fast-moving wildfire in Southern California that has prompted widespread evacuations and significant firefighting efforts.
In a coordinated response, the following Nevada County resources have been deployed to the incident:
Higgins Fire – Brush 23
Ophir Hill Fire – Engine 523
Penn Valley Fire – Brush 44
Nevada County Consolidated Fire – Brush 89
North San Juan Fire – Engine 6168
Grass Valley Fire – OES Engine 4609
These engines and their crews are part of a regional mutual aid system designed to provide critical support during large-scale emergencies. The Palisades Fire has already consumed thousands of acres, challenging firefighters with steep terrain and unpredictable winds. Nevada County’s highly trained personnel are working tirelessly alongside other fire agencies from across the state to protect lives, property, and natural resources.
“We are proud to contribute our skilled crews and equipment to assist in this critical situation,” said Sam Goodspeed, Division Chief of Nevada City Fire Department. “This is what mutual aid is all about—neighbors helping neighbors, even across great distances, when the need arises.”
While Nevada County fire resources are committed to the Palisades Fire, the agencies remain fully staffed to address any local emergencies. Additional personnel and resources have been made ready to ensure the safety of Nevada County residents.
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Editor’s note: Real-time updates on the Palisades Fire are posted here.
A 1-inch butterfly that can only be found beside hot springs near the Nevada-Oregon border will soon be awarded federal protections under the Endangered Species Act, the law meant to protect plants and animals at risk of extinction.
The bleached sandhill skipper’s largest population is found at the Baltazor Hot Spring — a spring that’s located next to what is planned to become a geothermal energy plant.
Some environmentalists worry that the 84-acre plant operated by Ormat, which has received all required permits from the Bureau of Land Management, could alter the flow of nearby groundwater. Ormat’s media representative did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The final environmental assessment for the project does mention the bleached sandhill skipper, with some facilities moved to accommodate the habitat. The BLM ultimately declared that any impacts to the species would be “unlikely and minor,” and Ormat committed to doing assessments of the species every year for the first five years of the project.
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“The wetlands these butterflies need to survive will dry up and blow away unless we can protect the water that sustains them,” Patrick Donnelly, Great Basin director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Endangered species protections can help ensure this rare butterfly is still here for future generations.”
Only about 1,000 of the butterflies were found in recent annual surveys, according to the nonprofit conservation organization. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declined to list the species in 2012.
With the proposal for protections on Tuesday, the Fish and Wildlife Service began a 60-day public comment period. Within a year, a final rule awarding protections will be issued.
In Southern Nevada, the Mount Charleston blue butterfly is another species that has similar federal protections.
The new proposed protections are paramount for the longstanding fight to protect rural Nevada’s water, according to Donnelly.
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“The bleached sandhill skipper needs the same thing to survive that we do: water,” Donnelly said. “With these endangered species protections, we aren’t just protecting charming little butterflies and their wetland habitat. We’re protecting the water that sustains all life in the desert, including our own.”
Contact Alan Halaly at ahalaly@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlanHalaly on X.
(KTNV) — Baby’s Bounty is once again hosting multiple diaper banks statewide for families in need of these supplies for their children.
Families will be able to receive a week’s worth of diapers and wipes for up to three children.
You must provide a photo ID and proof of parental paperwork (birth certificate, Medicaid card, crib card, social security card, foster or adoption paperwork) to utilize these services.
Henderson: 📍Location: Morell Park – 500 Harris St, Henderson 🗓️ Date: Wednesday, Jan. 8 ⏰ Time: 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. 🚙 Drive-thru bank Registration is required and can be found here.
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Las Vegas: 📍Location: Baby’s Bounty Center for Families – 4495 W Reno Ave, Las Vegas 🗓️ Date: Wednesday, Jan. 22 ⏰ Time: 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. 🚙 Drive-thru bank Registration is required and can be found here.
📍Location: Las Vegas Indian Center – 2300 W Bonanza Rd, Las Vegas 🗓️ Date: Thursday, Jan. 30 ⏰ Time: 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. 🚚 Mobile bank
North Las Vegas: 📍Location: Martin Luther King Jr. Senior Center – 2420 N MLK Blvd, North Las Vegas 🗓️ Date: Wednesday, Jan. 15 ⏰ Time: 9 a.m. – 11 a.m. 🚙 Drive-thru bank Registration is required and can be found here.
Reno/Sparks: 📍Location: Baby’s Bounty Northern Nevada – 1410 Greg St, #409, Sparks 🗓️ Date: Wednesday, Jan. 29 ⏰ Time: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. 🚙 Drive-thru bank Registration is required and can be found here.
Mesquite: 📍Location: Salvation Army Mesquite – 742 W Pioneer Blvd, Mesquite 🗓️ Date: Friday, Jan. 31 ⏰ Time: 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. 🚚 Mobile bank
