“ We invested in health-care programs . We have free medical centers — a fourth one just open today at Palace Station — on-premise medical centers . We have two 401 ( k ) programs . We ’ ve been voted three years in a row as Nevada ’ s top workplace company , Fortune magazine accolades . So really investing in the team members for us is a core principle .”
Kreeger believes Station ’ s management team is second to none . COO Bob Finch spent 40 years with Station and recently retired .
“ Bob is a shining example about what we ’ re all about ,” Kreeger says . “ There was no one better than Bob who emulated the culture and the philosophies of the company . At his heart , he was purely a people manager . Bob did his best work when he was in and among the team members , when he was working on team member programs . He was in large part responsible for these last five years where we really went in and concentrated and revamped all of our team member platform . He ’ s going to be missed .”
But Finch ’ s replacement is Kord Nichols , who was elevated to COO , and Kreeger brought in Mark Tricano to become senior VP of operations to replace Nichols .
“ There ’ s a high degree of execution in the company ,” he explains . “ It ’ s a little bit like an NFL team where we play every down . Kord is a welcome addition . Again , he is a shining example of our company , working for us for 15 years , if not more , He worked his way up . He worked at most of our properties . He went to Graton Casino ( a tribal casino in northern California that Station operated ). He understands and is passionate about what he does . And it ’ s Mark ’ s second time at the company as well . He ’ s incredibly smart , a very intuitive leader , a guy that has incredible amount of background and just started with us a couple weeks ago , and just fits like a glove .”
Station ’ s core customer comes to one of the properties at least four times a month , says Kreeger , so they need to feel like there ’ s something for them every time they come .
“ The second piece is investing in our product ,” he says . “ So whether it ’ s a newly developed project like Durango , or it ’ s our existing properties , putting money back into our properties to make sure they ’ re clean , to make sure they ’ re safe and to make sure they ’ re relevant . And when I say relevant , you ’ ve got to create new reasons for people to continue to come .
“ So we invest in new restaurant products , new amenities . We just put in all new high-limit rooms at Santa Fe , Red Rock , and Green Valley Ranch . We put in three new restaurants at Red Rock . Two new restaurants are coming online this month at Green Valley Ranch and Boulder Station . So we think that the combination of investing in your team members , investing in your facilities and your product really trumps a free toaster .”
Future Perfect
Coming out of the pandemic , Station didn ’ t reopen several of its casinos — Fiesta Henderson , Texas Station and Fiesta Rancho — and sold the Palms , which had never reopened , to California ’ s San Manuel Band of Mission Indians . Kreeger believes that was the correct decision .
“ We kept the Fiesta Rancho , which is right next to Texas , and it ’ s doing triple the profit that it was doing at the time . And as Las Vegas grows , not only do we have large properties , but we have mid-size properties , the Wildfire casinos . They ’ re called small non-restricted ; they range anywhere from 35 units up to about 200 . So these are great little neighborhood casinos . And then we have recently started to get into the tavern business . We characterize the tavern business as really a micro market business , within a one mile or half a mile radius . We ’ re finding great success in growing that part of the company as well .
“ Is it sad to see a property go that that I actually worked at ?” he asks . “ Yeah , sure . Was it a tough decision for the company ? Very much so . We ’ re not in the
Summer House brings a California-inspired menu and vibes to Durango Casino & Resort in Las Vegas
business of closing assets . But when you really look at the economics around it , our core thesis is to have our properties in high-growth , high-net-worth areas around the valley , near arterials . These properties weren ’ t really economically viable ; there was no more growth opportunity in the areas . And it became burdensome to keep those operating at profit .
“ Secondly , it just happened to be that was the peak of the real estate market . So when we closed those properties over Covid , one of the interesting stats that we figured out was that about 90 percent of our customer base migrated to an adjacent Station Casinos property . So for us , it was an opportunity to consolidate . It was an opportunity to take advantage of really good real estate prices at the time . And so we really reset our whole real estate portfolio for the next 10 years .”
And during those 10 years , Kreeger says the development runway is exciting .
“ Development is my passion . Since I came back to the company we ’ ve got the best development story in the business , bar none . We own all of our assets . We own all of our land . And this goes back to us as a company being real estate junkies a long time ago . We have no problem holding a future development site for over 20 years . We own all of the entitled gaming development sites that are left in Las Vegas .
“ With six future development sites all in high-net-worth , high-growth areas of the valley , all conveniently located around the ( 215 Beltway ), much like Durango , we think we have the best development pipeline in the gaming industry . We ’ re excited to take a 10-year journey into the future and develop these six sites when the time is right .”
The next step is still undecided , Kreeger says . It ’ s either phase 2 of the Durango resort or breaking ground on the Inspirada project in Henderson . The first phase of Inspirada will be slightly smaller than Durango with 201 rooms and 58,000 square feet of casino space .
“ Every time we build a new project , we make it as relevant and as appealing as possible to the neighborhoods ,” Kreeger says . “ We would look at the capacity of the neighborhood and size of the project to fit with the neighborhood . That might mean that in some situations , it has a smaller set of offerings than others . But we plan all of our projects to eventually be a size and a scale of Durango or Red Rock , a large-scale regional resort destination .”
22 Global Gaming Business APRIL 2024