By: Las Vegas Now Staff
Las Vegas is known for some serious heavyweight fights. But we've never seen a toe to toe, pound for pound auction battle over 13 acres of prime real estate near the strip.
Not surprisingly, this fight has an underdog, some grizzled veterans, County Commissioner Rory Reid moonlighting as an auctioneer and a surprise twist.
On one side, the underdog — Rick Burton from Rightpath, a development group from Arizona.
“It's 13 acres. It's exceptional,” he said.
They want to build a hanger on those 13 acres for planes — big toys for big boys.
The three veterans vying for the land; a local aviation company and two of the biggest names on the block — casino billionaire Steve Wynn and the sixth richest man on the planet, Sheldon Adelson who owns the Sands Corporation.
Round after round they went, 46 rounds to be exact totaling 98 bids. And as luck would have it, the underdog won.
“We knew that these were three 800-pound gorillas and we were maybe the chimpanzee, but it was fun,” adds Burton.
But that's not the twist. The land, originally thought to be worth $620,000, went for much more; $4.4 million to McCarran Airport every year for the next 30 years.
“We came here today with the intention of walking away with this piece of property,” said Burton.
Not bad for an underdog.
The money from the land, all $4.4 million a year, will be used by the airport for new construction and expansion. That's $132 million over the life of the lease.
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