Land south of Strip sells for $140M, targeted for new arena

A longtime Las Vegas land investor has paid a hefty sum for a large tract south of the Strip.

And it’s the same plot where, as seen in public announcements, the group behind a never-built futuristic minicity in Las Vegas now wants to build a sports arena. But several months after it unveiled its latest multibillion-dollar idea, it still hasn’t filed any project plans.

Seven Valleys Realty &Construction owner Khusrow “K” Roohani and partners bought around 70 acres at the northwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road for $140 million, according to property records and business-entity filings.

They bought the land through multiple transactions over the past year from Las Vegas developer Scott Goldstein, and the final sale closed last month.

At the very least, the sale marks another sharp rise in value for a big property about 3 miles from the south edge of Las Vegas’ famed casino corridor.

Plus, another supersized project has already been pitched for the still-vacant site.

Las Vegas has a long history of developers drawing up big plans and never following through, and over the past two decades there have now been several proposed stadiums and arenas for Roohani’s newly acquired site alone.

The group behind the latest pitch issued a series of buzzword-heavy news releases several years ago for a $7.5 billion project called Bleutech Park Las Vegas. The developer also reached a deal back then to acquire its project site from Roohani and another landowner — but it never closed the purchase, and its over-the-top proposal went nowhere.

‘The sky’s the limit’

In a recent interview, Roohani confirmed his land purchase at Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond.

Clark County records do not show any project plans from Bleutech for the spread, and Roohani said he wasn’t aware of any either but that the group is working on it.

Roohani has spent years buying land at government auctions in Southern Nevada and then selling the plots to developers, and he was quoted in Bleutech’s news release early this year on the proposed arena.

He said in the release that bringing the project to this site “is a moment of immense pride and excitement for me. This project represents the convergence of innovation, vision, and the future of immersive technology and entertainment in Las Vegas.”

When asked recently what he would do if Bleutech’s idea fell through, Roohani noted that he and his partners are land speculators, and that he always looks for the best ideas for his properties.

He also indicated that Bleutech was not under contract yet to purchase the site.

Goldstein, founder and managing partner of Prospect Street Capital, confirmed that he sold the spread to Roohani and said that he’s never dealt with anyone from Bleutech.

Clark County Commission Chairman Michael Naft, whose district includes the property, said this past week that he has not seen any details on Bleutech’s latest proposal, that he’s not aware of any project plans filed with the county, and that he hasn’t been in contact with anyone from the development team on its arena proposal.

Still, Naft said the stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard south of the Strip, toward the M Resort, has ample opportunity for high-density development, offering close access to highways and Harry Reid International Airport.

“The sky’s the limit for what could go in that area,” he said.

‘NBA, Soccer, and Surfing fans’

This past February, Bleutech Park Las Vegas announced plans for a $6.75 billion multisport venue at Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond, indicating the venue would be “NBA ready” by the second quarter of 2028.

It offered few specifics on the project but plenty of jargon-filled descriptions.

For instance, it said technology is the backbone of its development and would “give rise to a new class of venue: Hyper-Smart. Technologies, including digital currencies, will disrupt our spaces influencing events delivery, performance, broadcasting and fan experiences.”

It also said the venue would “transform the way fans, teams, and operators experience Sports, Gaming, and Entertainment bringing together NBA, Soccer, and Surfing fans embracing a new era of hyper-personalization, immersive engagement, and sustainability.”

The media contact named in the news release could not be reached for comment this past week.

All told, this isn’t the first time Bleutech pitched a big project for Las Vegas.

In summer 2019, Bleutech Park Properties unveiled plans for a $7.5 billion minicity with net-zero buildings, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, “supertrees,” and “self-healing concrete structures.”

The so-called “digital infrastructure city” — also called Bleutech Park Las Vegas — was slated to have housing, offices, retail, and entertainment, along with “waste-heat recovery,” buildings with “breathable materials,” and other features.

‘Great project if there’s any legitimacy to it’

Overall, the original Bleutech Park, as outlined by its backers, was poised to be the most expensive and complex real estate development in memory in Las Vegas.

Still, it sounded all too familiar in Southern Nevada, given the region’s long track record of never-built, over-the-top real estate ideas.

“I think it’s a great project if there’s any legitimacy to it,” CBRE Group broker Michael Parks, a hotel-casino specialist in Las Vegas, said at the time.

As described at a news conference at the M Resort in fall 2019, the developers reached a deal to buy 210 acres for Bleutech along Las Vegas Boulevard at Cactus Avenue for more than $315 million from Roohani and longtime developer Larry Canarelli.

At the event, held in the resort’s 16th-floor LUX event space, Roohani said that he had also discussed leasing the developers more than 100 acres south of the M, to use for project manufacturing.

Asked how confident he was that the developers could close the high-priced land purchase, Roohani said, “If they don’t, they’ll be out of the deal.”

‘Show me the money’

Even before Bleutech set its sights on the property at Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond, developers had pitched big plans for the spread.

In spring 2006, the Review-Journal reported that a Texas development firm wanted to build an 80,000-seat domed stadium and a 25,000-seat arena on the site.

Then-Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman was less than enthusiastic about the proposal, which was outside his jurisdiction in unincorporated Clark County.

“Show me the money,” Goodman said at the time. “I’ve seen many of these projects. They say it’s going to do this, it’s going to do that, then the whole thing ends up in the toilet.”

In late 2016, the site’s now-former owner, Fred Nassiri, appeared at a Las Vegas Stadium Authority meeting and, during public comments, offered the land as a site for the Raiders’ future football stadium, meeting minutes indicate.

His representative, Don Murphy, pitched the land again at a Stadium Authority meeting in early 2017, telling the board that the property has an “iconic Las Vegas Boulevard address” and multiple access and exit points.

Months later, the Raiders bought more than 60 acres at Russell Road and Interstate 15 — now home to Allegiant Stadium — for $77.5 million.

‘Long list of viable sites’

In spring 2019, Ernie Lee, whose family’s business interests include real estate and casinos, acquired around 67 acres at the northwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond for $60 million, the Review-Journal reported.

Then, in early 2022, he sold the land to Goldstein, of Prospect Street, for nearly $99 million, property records show.

About a month after the sale closed, live-entertainment firm Oak View Group announced plans for a $3 billion project at the site, saying it had acquired 25 acres for a development that would feature a roughly 20,000-seat arena, a hotel-casino, and an amphitheater.

Goldstein confirmed he was under contract to sell the project site to Oak View. But ultimately, the sale never closed, and Oak View’s development there was never built.

Nowadays, with the NBA exploring potential team expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle, an ever-growing roster of interested developers have pitched plans to build a new basketball arena in America’s casino capital.

Of course, there’s no guarantee the NBA will select Las Vegas for a new team, or that a new franchise here would pass on, say, T-Mobile Arena for a newly built venue.

But, according to Commissioner Naft, the big tract at Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond can’t be ruled out as a possible home for a basketball arena.

“I would put this on that long list of viable sites,” he said.

Contact Eli Segall at [email protected] or 702-383-0342.