Lucky Dragon sold for $36m

Nearly six months after lenders foreclosed on the Lucky Dragon, the shuttered-off Las Vegas Strip resort has been sold.

Don Ahern, chairman and chief executive of Las Vegas construction equipment firm Ahern Rentals, acquired the Lucky Dragon for $36m, property records show. The sale, by San Francisco developer Enrique Landa’s Snow Covered Capital, closed last Monday.

Ahern’s purchase breathes new life into a boutique resort that closed less than two years after it opened – perhaps the fastest demise of a Las Vegas hotel-casino in decades – and drew tremendous interest from prospective buyers, but mostly people who had no chance of closing a deal.

Ahern confirmed that he had purchased the 2.5-acre venue and said he plans to reopen it as a non-gaming hotel, with the former casino building turned into conference and convention space. He did not provide a timeline for the overhaul but said he plans to change the property’s name.