In addition to the land, FX Luxury Realty, directly and through subsidiaries, owns an interest in Riviera Holdings Corp., owner and operator of the Riviera Hotel & Casino on the Strip, as well as an option to acquire an additional interest. FXLR also owns a 57% stake in Riv Acquisition Holdings, which has offered to acquire the remaining shares of Riviera Holdings Corp. for $34 apiece.
In June, a 50% stake in FXLR was acquired for $100 million by publicly held CKX Inc., which owns the rights to the name, image and likeness of Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali, and proprietary rights to the American Idol television series. Also that month, CKX agreed to be acquired for $13.75 per share by 19X Inc., a private company owned and controlled by CKX chairman Robert F.X. Sillerman and CKX director Simon R. Fuller, who is also CEO of CKX subsidiary 19 Entertainment Ltd.
The other 50% of FXLR is owned by Flag Luxury Properties LLC, a real estate development company and an affiliate of Sillerman. Flag is currently the managing member of FXLR. CKX has the option to become the managing member of FXLR, an option it says it intends to exercise.
The purchase price of land translates to a per-acre price of about $20.34 million. The price is slightly higher than a couple of recent transactions and well-below a third.
In May, MGM Mirage paid two different owners $576 million, about $17 million per acre, for 33.5 contiguous acres that abut its Circus Circus resort as well as Las Vegas Boulevard, giving the company a total of 102 acres to master plan. MGM is now talking with Kerzner International Holdings Ltd. about a joint venture to develop a multi-billion resort.
Also in May, Elad Properties agreed to acquire the 34.5-acre New Frontier property on the Strip from Wichita billionaire Phil Ruffin for $1.2 billion, or $34.8 million per acre, which would be by far the most anyone has paid for Strip land heretofore. Elad plans to raze the existing casino and spend an additional $3.5 billion on a new resort that is to include a 3,500-room ultra-luxury hotel, condominiums, retail shops, restaurants and convention space.
Last month, Christopher Milam paid $40 million to maintain his option to acquire 27 acres fronting the Las Vegas Strip for $475 million, or $17.6 million per acre. The Texas developer is planning a $5-billion development for the site that would include the tallest building in the Western hemisphere. Milam has one year to exercise the option as long as he starts making monthly $2-million option payments beginning in October.
While no party has specifically said the 17.7 acre site at Harmon and the Strip will be an Elvis-themed resort, that is the likely result at this point. FX Luxury Realty has said it plans to pursue a retail, hotel, casino, commercial and residential development project on the property and CKX has said it plans to develop an Elvis-themed resort in Las Vegas.
In September 2005, CKX added to its Elvis holdings by acquiring all the assets of the Elvis-O-Rama Museum on Industrial Road in Las Vegas. The museum was shuttered in 2006 but its assets will reappear at the aforementioned Elvis-themed resort.
"As we have mentioned on numerous occasions, establishing a major presence for the 'Elvis' brand in Las Vegas is an important priority of the company," Sillerman said at the time it acquired the museum's assets.
Elvis first played in Las Vegas at the New Frontier hotel-casino in 1956. In July 1969, at age 34, he began playing on a regular basis at what would become known as the Las Vegas Hilton. Elvis played 637 shows there between 1969 and 1976.
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