What’s next after closed motel on Strip fails to sell at auction?
After the price was lowered, a shuttered motel on the Las Vegas Strip didn’t sell through a recent auction but is still on the market.
The fenced-off Diamond Inn Motel property across from the Mandalay Bay Convention Center was available to purchase through an online auction that closed Oct. 16. The minimum bid was $10 million.
J.P. King Auction Co., the Alabama-based real estate auction firm that handled the sales effort, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Thursday that the auction generated registered bidders and active bidding.
The final amount “did not meet the seller’s initial expectations,” but he “now has a clearer understanding of current market demand for the property,” the firm said.
The site is now available to purchase through a traditional listing, the firm said, adding the seller is “motivated and ready” to work with qualified buyers.
Known for its pink elephant out front, the low-slung Diamond Inn was built in 1940, making it one of the oldest buildings still standing on the Strip. It occupies a nearly 1.4-acre parcel on the south edge of the famed casino corridor.
Marketing materials described the site as a prime redevelopment spot, with potential for a resort, luxury high-rise or entertainment venue.
Located at 4605 Las Vegas Blvd. South, just north of Russell Road, the Diamond Inn went out of business in fall 2023, after Clark County officials alleged numerous building-code violations and ordered the power shut off, county records show.
J.P. King Auction tried to sell the property last year with a starting bid of $12.5 million, the Review-Journal previously reported.
The plot is still held by longtime owner Sam Aldabbagh, who acquired the motel in the 1970s, records show.
Motels on the Strip can seem a bit out of place these days. There used to be more, but Las Vegas Boulevard’s few remaining decades-old motor lodges are small, no-frills affairs and look especially tiny near the massive hotels and other high-rises that now loom overhead.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.
