SLS Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, Triblend Tee

Venue History

SLS Las Vegas was a modern casino resort built on one of the Strip’s most historic sites: the former Sahara Hotel and Casino at 2535 South Las Vegas Boulevard. It opened on August 23, 2014, after a $415 million overhaul of the Sahara, which had closed in 2011 after nearly 60 years in business. The project was led by SBE Entertainment and Stockbridge Capital Group, who set out to give the old property a fresh personality. Instead of leaning on classic Las Vegas nostalgia, SLS aimed for something younger and more nightlife-focused, with a style that felt closer to Los Angeles than old-school Vegas. Much of the Sahara was stripped down and rebuilt, though parts of the original structure remained. When it opened, the resort included about 1,600 rooms, a 60,000-square-foot casino, pools, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. Food and nightlife were central to the SLS idea. The resort brought in buzzy restaurant names such as Bazaar Meat by José Andrés, Katsuya, Cleo, Umami Burger, 800 Degrees Pizza, and The Griddle Cafe. Its nightlife lineup included Foxtail, The Sayers Club, and Life Nightclub, a large club built inside the former Sahara showroom with towering ceilings, aerial performers, LED displays, and celebrity DJs. For all its ambition, SLS had a difficult time finding its footing. The north end of the Strip was quieter than the resort’s owners had hoped, and the property’s trendy, nightlife-heavy approach did not translate into enough gaming revenue. SBE sold its stake in 2015, leaving Stockbridge in control. In 2016, one 289-room section became W Las Vegas, but that experiment was short-lived and the rooms were folded back into SLS as the Grand Tower in 2018. Businessman Alex Meruelo bought the resort in April 2018 and quickly began working to reposition it. His renovation focused on making the casino feel brighter, refreshing the rooms, and giving the property broader appeal beyond its original nightlife-driven image. In June 2019, Meruelo announced that the resort would bring back one of the most recognizable names in Las Vegas history: Sahara Las Vegas. The change marked the end of the SLS era after just five years and restored the Sahara name to the Strip. Although SLS Las Vegas was short-lived, it remains an interesting chapter in the city’s resort history. It was a bold attempt to turn a legendary property into something new, mixing traces of the old Sahara with a style aimed at a different generation of Las Vegas visitors.