Boutique hotel near Strip sold to ‘cannabis-friendly’ operator
The operator of a “cannabis-friendly” hotel in Phoenix has acquired a boutique property near the Strip.
Pro Hospitality Group owner Alex Rizk purchased the 64-room Artisan hotel at Sahara Avenue and Interstate 15 for $11.9 million.
The sale, by The Siegel Group founder Stephen Siegel, closed this month, property records show.
Rizk recently told the Review-Journal that he is planning a nearly $3 million renovation of the Artisan, 1501 W. Sahara Ave. He hopes to start the overhaul in the next 60 days and finish by September.
He also said he hopes to make the hotel “cannabis friendly,” pending finalization of laws and regulations in Nevada.
“This is a lifestyle, boutique hotel,” Rizk said.
The Review-Journal reported in January that Clark County officials were closely monitoring the state’s efforts to regulate cannabis consumption lounges.
When they open this year in Nevada, after approval in the state Legislature last summer, lounges would provide locals and tourists with places to consume marijuana. But the state’s Cannabis Compliance Board must first finalize regulations, which local jurisdictions can then strengthen if they want.
Pro Hospitality Group is based in Phoenix, and its portfolio includes a hotel called The Clarendon. The hotel’s website says it offers “cannabis-friendly rooms and amenities” that allow “vaping, dabbing, flower, etc.” as well as a cannabis lounge that is available for hotel guests and the general public.
“Since we are currently a split-use hotel with cannabis and non-smoking rooms, we do ask that any smoking take place in your cannabis-friendly room and not in the public areas of the hotel,” the website says. “Vapes and smokeless products can be used in outdoor public areas, not including the restaurant.”
The hotel also is “working on a cannabis shuttle service to take hotel guests from the hotel to a local dispensary and back again,” the website says.
The Siegel Group, which announced in early 2010 that it acquired the Artisan through the foreclosure process, said in a news release on the sale that the Artisan boasts a “hip, intimate atmosphere.” It had a bar and lounge “with a popular after-hours scene,” as well as a restaurant, wedding chapel, and “one of the few topless pools in town,” the release said.
Real estate brokerage NAI Vegas, which represented The Siegel Group in the sale, said in a release that the five-story, nongaming hotel was built in 1979 and converted to the Artisan brand in 2006.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.
