Westgate CEO plans sweeping changes for newly acquired LVH
Siegel, who declined to disclosed the purchase price, announced the purchase of LVH and his plans to rename the property Westgate Las Vegas. The hotel, originally opened in 1969 as the International Hotel, has 2,956 rooms and 305 suites. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review Journal)
Westgate CEO plans sweeping changes for newly acquired LVHDavid Siegel and his wife, Jackie, became infamous in the documentary, "The Queen of Versailles." (Courtesy)
Westgate CEO plans sweeping changes for newly acquired LVHDavid Siegel, president and CEO of Westgate Resorts, shows a newspaper clipping from a Las Vegas newspaper announcing his parents’ 50th anniversary during an interview at LVH, 3000 Paradise Road, on Monday, June 30, 2014. His parents were frequent visitors to Las Vegas. Siegel, who declined to disclosed the purchase price, will rename the property Westgate Las Vegas. The hotel, originally opened in 1969 as the International Hotel, has 2,956 rooms and 305 suites. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review Journal)
Westgate CEO plans sweeping changes for newly acquired LVHDavid Siegel, president and CEO of Westgate Resorts, sits for an interview at LVH, 3000 Paradise Road, on Monday, June 30, 2014. Siegel, who declined to disclosed the purchase price, announced the purchase of LVH and his plans to rename the property Westgate Las Vegas. The hotel, originally opened in 1969 as the International Hotel, has 2,956 rooms and 305 suites. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review Journal)
Westgate CEO plans sweeping changes for newly acquired LVHDavid Siegel, president and CEO of Westgate Resorts, sits for an interview at LVH, 3000 Paradise Road, on Monday, June 30, 2014. Siegel, who declined to disclosed the purchase price, announced the purchase of LVH and his plans to rename the property Westgate Las Vegas. The hotel, originally opened in 1969 as the International Hotel,
scotty cameron putters, has 2,956 rooms and 305 suites. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review Journal)
Westgate CEO plans sweeping changes for newly acquired LVHDavid Siegel, president and CEO of Westgate Resorts, sits for an interview at LVH, 3000 Paradise Road, on Monday, June 30, 2014. Siegel, who declined to disclosed the purchase price, announced the purchase of LVH and his plans to rename the property Westgate Las Vegas. The hotel, originally opened in 1969 as the International Hotel, has 2,956 rooms and 305 suites. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review Journal)
Westgate CEO plans sweeping changes for newly acquired LVHDavid Siegel, president and CEO of Westgate Resorts, sits for an interview at LVH, 3000 Paradise Road, on Monday, June 30, 2014. Siegel, who declined to disclosed the purchase price,
mizuno mp 64, announced the purchase of LVH and his plans to rename the property Westgate Las Vegas. The hotel, originally opened in 1969 as the International Hotel, has 2,956 rooms and 305 suites. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review Journal)
Westgate CEO plans sweeping changes for newly acquired LVHDavid Siegel,
scotty cameron putters, president and CEO of Westgate Resorts, sits for an interview at LVH, 3000 Paradise Road, on Monday, June 30, 2014. Siegel, who declined to disclosed the purchase price, announced the purchase of LVH and his plans to rename the property Westgate Las Vegas. The hotel, originally opened in 1969 as the International Hotel, has 2,956 rooms and 305 suites. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review Journal)
Westgate CEO plans sweeping changes for newly acquired LVHDavid Siegel, president and CEO of Westgate Resorts, sits for an interview at LVH, 3000 Paradise Road, on Monday, June 30, 2014. Siegel, who declined to disclosed the purchase price, announced the purchase of LVH and his plans to rename the property Westgate Las Vegas. The hotel,
odyssey putters, originally opened in 1969 as the International Hotel, has 2,956 rooms and 305 suites. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review Journal)
Westgate CEO plans sweeping changes for newly acquired LVHA sign promoting Westgate Las Vegas as seen at LVH, 3000 Paradise Road, on Monday, June 30, 2014. David Siegel, president and CEO of Westgate Resorts, announced the purchase of LVH and his plans to rename the property Westgate Las Vegas. The hotel, originally opened in 1969 as the International Hotel, has 2,956 rooms and 305 suites. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review Journal)
Westgate CEO plans sweeping changes for newly acquired LVHDavid Siegel, president and CEO of Westgate Resorts, shows an artist’s rendering of remodeled rooms during an interview at LVH, 3000 Paradise Road, on Monday, June 30, 2014. Siegel, who declined to disclosed the purchase price, announced the purchase of LVH and his plans to rename the property Westgate Las Vegas. The hotel, originally opened in 1969 as the International Hotel, has 2,956 rooms and 305 suites. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review Journal)
It’ll take some time for Westgate Resorts founder and CEO David Siegel to get to know the 2,000 employees of the LVH hotel casino property he just bought.
But when he does, he will welcome them to the family with a hug.
"That’s just the way I do business, it’s like a big family," Siegel said in an exclusive interview with the Review Journal on Monday.
Siegel will meet some of those employees early today when he climbs onto a crane and is lifted to the 279 foot marquee at the front of the property to remove the L of LVH and replace it with a W that will be a part of the property’s new name: Westgate Las Vegas Resort confirmed Monday what most of the real estate world already knew that he was closing on a deal to acquire the 30 story, 3,
callaway x2 hot,261 room off Strip property with Goldman Sachs, which took possession of the resort in 2012 in a foreclosure on a $252 million loan.
Siegel, known as the king of time share developers, plans to convert a small portion of the hotel to time share ownership about 200 rooms to start. He figures he’ll have plenty more to sell in the years ahead and he’s happy to have his own stand alone property in a market he has been trying to become a part of for nearly three decades.
His 1,200 unit PH Towers Westgate at Planet Hollywood project was hurt by the Great Recession, but Siegel said what really hurt was that lenders called his loan, forcing him to sell the development.
Siegel didn’t disclose the purchase price of the LVH, which formerly was known as the Las Vegas Hilton and the International, but experts in the industry say he probably got it for between $160 million and $170 million.
TRANSACTION A POORLY KEPT SECRET
The transaction was one of Las Vegas’ worst kept secrets.
Real estate analysts began speculating about a sale as early as May when Siegel’s representatives were seen touring the property. Entertainment and gossip columnists added fuel to the speculation with more reports of a possible sale as Siegel and his wife were building the nation’s largest mansion near Orlando, Fla.
David and Jackie Siegel were subjects in a documentary film about the project, "The Queen of Versailles," which aired on the Bravo television network last year.
For Siegel, the acquisition of the LVH ended a series of near misses for buying in Las Vegas.
"I first came to Las Vegas on a bus in 1955 and remember seeing Gorgeous George performing in a casino," Siegel said. "He was a professional wrestler, and I don’t even remember what he was doing, I guess telling jokes. At the time, the only lights on the Strip were from the Flamingo and five little casinos."
He came back again in 1970, a year after Kirk Kerkorian opened the International, then the largest hotel in the world.