MGM Resorts (MGM) announced Thursday that it has put The Mirage resort and casino in Las Vegas up for sale.

MGM Resorts made the announcement late Wednesday during its earnings call with analysts, saying that it no longer wanted to invest money into the 32-year-old property that it has owned for 21 years in the center of the Las Vegas Strip, CNN reported.

The entertainment company did not announce a potential buyer for a property, nor did it reveal a sale price.

According to MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle, as reported by CNN, the company is in the “early stages of a process to sell the operations" of The Mirage.

“Doing so will allow us to maintain our existing Las Vegas exposure while focusing on the complementary and diverse nature of our offerings in our hometown,” he said.

Hornbuckle added, as reported by Travel Weekly, “I've mentioned in the past that we are happy with the amount of exposure we currently have in Las Vegas.” The Mirage “fell far down the spectrum” in terms of anticipated future capital investment.

But Hornbuckle maintained that the Mirage has plenty of potential, saying during the earnings call, according to CNN, that “There's 77 acres, much of it's really undeveloped in the context of what could be there. As we look at capital allocation and we look at the notion of diversification, we have enough of Las Vegas.”

The 3,044-room Mirage, which is known for its iconic explosive volcano, was opened back in 1989 by previous owner Steve Wynn and purchased by MGM Resorts in 2000. The casino and hotel was home to entertainers Siegfried & Roy from 1990 to 2003, Travel Weekly said.

The real estate that The Mirage resort and casino sits on, which is owned by MGM Growth Properties, is being sold to Vici Properties for $17.2 billion, Travel Weekly reported. The deal was announced back in August.

MGM Resorts already owns several properties in Las Vegas, including Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Delano Las Vegas, MGM Grand, Signature at MGM Grand, Luxor, Park MGM, NoMad Las Vegas, New York-New York, Excalibur, Aria and Vdara at Aria.

MGM sold off Circus Circus in 2019 for $825 million. It also entered into a joint venture with private equity firm Blackstone to acquire the real estate of the Bellagio and lease it back in a $4.25 billion deal. MGM also announced it was purchasing the Cosmopolitan for $1.6 billion back in September.

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A standoff at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas ended Wednesday with a man dead of an apparent suicide, police said. Creative Commons
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