The mystery of why the MGM Resorts paid $54 million for a 1.62-acre sliver of land dividing the Bellagio from the Cosmopolitan in 2023 has just been solved by leaked Clark County permit applications.

The expansion, according to schematics first published by Casino.org’s own Vital Vegas blogger Scott Roeben, will be a three-story plaza extending from the hotel’s main entrance out to Las Vegas Boulevard.

Cosmopolitan’s service road will not be affected by the new project, though the current elevated bridge from the Strip to the Bellagio — from which a people-mover was removed in 2017 to cut costs — looks like it will be sacrificed.

According to the plans, the space will boast a mix of high-end retail and restaurants — indoor on the first two floors and outdoor on the third. And its roof will feature a 10,000 square-foot nightclub with a pool, overlooking the Bellagio fountains and Strip.

The renderings also show a large LED sign and pedestrian bridges to the Cosmopolitan and Planet Hollywood.

The plaza is referred to by the schematics as Project Mojave, but that’s undoubtedly just its code name, not what the expansion will be called.

It was designed by Marnell Architecture, whose lead architect also designed the Bellagio.

The Secret of the Strip Strip

Back when Steve Wynn owned the Bellagio, he leased the parcel sliver from a previous owner – involuntarily, because the owner wouldn’t sell it to him.

MGM inherited the lease when they purchased the property for $6.4 billion in 2000 and exercised the option to purchase it last year, after purchasing the operating rights to the adjoining Cosmopolitan from Blackstone for $1.6 billion in 2022.

Measuring a few hundred feet, the sliver had been used as a road, parking lot, and garbage storage by MGM for the Bellagio. Since it was only zoned as a vacant lot, Clark County must now rezone the area to approve MGM’s new project.

MGM has not given a timeline for its construction or completion of the project.

Interestingly, the parcel sliver is one of the last actual actual properties that MGM Resorts still owns on the Las Vegas Strip.

These days, when people refer to casino companies owning Strip casinos, they’re mostly referring to their operating rights.

MGM sold the property assets of the Bellagio to Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) for $4.25 billion in a sale-leaseback transaction in 2019. (Last August, BREIT sold a 21.9% stake of that to Realty Income for $950 million.)

When Blackstone sold Cosmopolitan for $5.65 billion to MGM in 2021, the real estate of that resort was never even on the table. It was acquired by BREIT, the Cherng Family Trust, and Stonepeak Partners for $4 billion.

The post MYSTERY SOLVED: MGM Bought $54M Sliver of Land to Expand Bellagio Retail appeared first on Casino.org.