Sahara Las Vegas

Sahara Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Meruelo Group. The hotel has 1,616 rooms, and the casino contains 50,662 square feet (4,706.7 m2). The Sahara anchors the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip, at the corner of Sahara Avenue. It is the site of the northernmost station of the Las Vegas Monorail. The resort initially operated under the Sahara name from 1952 to 2011. Originally, Milton Prell opened the Club Bingo casino on the site in 1947. In 1951, he gathered former business partners to begin work on the Sahara, which was built on the land partially occupied by Club Bingo. Del E. Webb Construction Company built the Sahara, which opened on October 7, 1952, as the sixth resort on the Las Vegas Strip. It featured an African theme. Martin Stern Jr. designed several hotel additions for the Sahara, including a 14-story tower that opened in 1960. The Sahara was sold to Del Webb in 1961, and a 24-story hotel tower, also designed by Stern, was opened in 1963. The Sahara began to decline in the 1960s with the opening of several large resorts nearby. Paul Lowden purchased the Sahara in 1982, and a third hotel tower was added in 1988. Lowden sold the Sahara to Bill Bennett in 1995, and Bennett launched a $100 million renovation of the resort that included a Moroccan theme. Bennett's renovation also added a NASCAR-themed attraction that included a restaurant and a roller coaster known as Speed – The Ride. Sam Nazarian's SBE Entertainment Group, along with Stockbridge Real Estate Group, purchased the Sahara in 2007. The Sahara was closed on May 16, 2011, as it was no longer considered economically viable. In 2013, Nazarian began a complete renovation of the resort before reopening it as the SLS Las Vegas on August 23, 2014, as part of SBE's chain of SLS hotels. SLS Las Vegas featured a chic and modern design, and was targeted at southern California residents. The SLS experienced financial hardships after its opening, and Nazarian sold his stake to Stockbridge in 2015. One of the hotel towers was rebranded the following year as W Las Vegas, managed by Starwood as part of its W Hotels chain. The SLS was sold to Meruelo Group in 2018, and the W Las Vegas became part of the SLS again after the resort ended its relationship with Starwood. The SLS was renamed Sahara Las Vegas on August 29, 2019, as part of an ongoing renovation by Meruelo.