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Station Casinos Opens Upscale Henderson Casino

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Dec. 19, 2001 -- Green Valley Ranch opened for business this evening, and for Station Casinos Chairman Frank Fertitta III the night is a milestone.

While 3,000 Las Vegas movers and shakers at the Green Valley Ranch pre-opening party scoped out the casino's amenities and scooped up complimentary hors d'oeuvres, Fertitta's mind was on the property's real target audience.

"This is the same old Station Casinos you've always known," Fertitta said. "My father (Frank Fertitta Jr., who built the company's original property, Palace Station) created the locals casino. It's all about value and entertainment, and that's what's worked before, and what will work here."

Fertitta III's top executives took pains to credit their boss with the inspiration and the execution of Green Valley Ranch.

"Frank looks at all of the ideas, and he makes the calls," said Scott Nielson, the company's general counsel. "This is his baby."

As the partygoers roamed the 40-acre property, they seemed impressed by the property's Old World look.

They also noticed the chic poolside Whiskey Sky bar and the Drop Bar in the center of the casino's table games pit.

"Wow," was a word on many observers lips as they checked out the casino's atmosphere.

"We're pretty happy and excited," Fertitta said. "We've exceeded people's expectations, but we have to win people's business every single day."

The Station Casinos brass is confident that their new property will capture a significant portion of the upscale suburban market surrounding Green Valley Ranch.

Fertitta said the property will likely take business away from the company's Sunset Station, only four miles away, but the executive said the cannibalization of business is only a short-term problem.

He noted that the company's Boulder Station took an initial hit when Sunset Station opened, but said business at the Boulder Strip property surpassed its previous performance during Sunset's second year.

"Unlike with many Strip casinos, your first year is often not your best year in the locals market," Fertitta said.

Green Valley Ranch has 2,500 slot machines and 53 table games in its casino. The 40-acre property also has 201 hotel rooms, seven restaurants and six fast food outlets.

The Mediterranean-themed property employs 1,100 workers, and its leased restaurants employ an additional 800 or more.

About 60 percent of Green Valley Ranch workers are new Station Casinos employees; the rest transferred from the company's other properties. About half of the new Station Casinos employees were victims of the recent round of layoffs on the Strip, said Don Marrandino, Station Casinos president of East Las Vegas operations.

Station Casinos and the Greenspun family's GCR Gaming each own 50 percent of Green Valley Ranch. The two groups also each own 50 percent of Barley's brew pub on Sunset Road and more than 6 percent of the Maloof family's Palms hotel-casino.

Station Casinos owns eight other casinos, all in the Las Vegas Valley, and the company controls an estimated 50 percent of the locals gaming market.

The Greenspuns publish the Las Vegas Sun newspaper and Showbiz magazine, and made a large chunk of their family fortune by selling the Las Vegas area's cable television franchise and by developing Green Valley real estate.

Green Valley Ranch is located at the intersection of the Las Vegas Beltway and Green Valley Parkway.

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