All the news out of Vegas in the past few days has been about the Riveria being put into bankruptcy, with Starwood Capital being one if the mortgage holders who pushed for the bankruptcy filing.

My friends over at VegasChatter seem to think this could be the first Barry Sternlicht-ing of Vegas since the days he used to operate CaesarsWorld in the 90s. I'm not so convinced.

Sure, Sternlicht and Starwood have been involved with trying to take over the Riveria for years now.. Just do a Google search for Rig Acquisitions Sternlicht and you'll see what I mean. But there is something else that Sternlicht sees in the property – it can't be the building, its small compared to the rest of the Vegas casinos, its not in the ‘heart' of the Strip – in fact its almost in no-man's land compared to CityCenter and other ‘it' casinos; its surrounded by the unfinished shells of Echelon Place & the Fontainebleau and casinos of yesteryear like the Las Vegas Hilton & Circus Circus.

It could very well be that Sternlicht sees the potential in the site come, 10 – 20 years when projects like Echelons Place or The Plaza ever get off the ground (if they ever do that is!)

Or.

Sternlicht could just see a good deal.. after all, the Riveria has been on its last legs for a few years now – before any economic downturn even started, and buying a mortgage for 50 cents on the dollar, well.. that's just a good investment, and that's really what Starwood Capital is all about.

andrew@alconic-inc.com

Andrew Calvo is a Commercial Real Estate Advisor in New Jersey. I live in Tinton Falls, NJ. This blog is about my passions - primarily hotels, commercial real estate, and development, etc.

Since I have been in High School I've had numerous jobs, but the field which has always interested me is Real Estate, Hotel Development and Construction. I consider myself a zealot in that area - I try to absorb as much as I possibly can, take the experiences that I learn, or read about and use them in my life. 

www.passionsofazealot.com