SBE Entertainment Group and partner Stockbridge Capital Group will get $300 million in funding from JP Morgan for the redevelopment of the Sahara Hotel & Casino site at the north end of the Las Vegas Strip.
Also, SBE tapped former Wynn Resorts executive Rob Oseland as president and chief operating officer of the new hotel and casino, which will reopen as the SLS Las Vegas Hotel & Casino in 2014.
The hotel will have more than 1,600 rooms. It will be redesigned by longtime SBE architect Philippe Starck and will include restaurants headed by chef Jose Andres.
SBE said Las Vegas’ resurgence in tourist visits was a factor in securing funding. The city boosted its number of visitors last year by 4.3%, to 38.9 million, the second-highest total on record, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA).
Through February, 2012 tourism visits are up 3.6%, to 6.22 million, and room rates have increased 8.1%, according to the LVCVA.
The 1,720-room Sahara, which opened in 1952 on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip, closed last May.
SBE has an SLS hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. An SLS hotel in South Beach, Fla., is scheduled to open within a few weeks.
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