Is Las Vegas’ Famed Bellagio Up for Sale?

Is another Las Vegas property up for grabs?

Just in the last year, The Mirage and The Cosmopolitan were sold and the Tropicana sold nine acres of its land to build a new ballpark for the relocated Oakland Athletics.

Now comes word that another Las Vegas institution may be sold.

The iconic Bellagio, with its dancing fountains out front that are a tourist attraction unto itself, is allegedly on the selling block. But it’s likely that the Bellagio name and the famous dancing fountains will remain.

Apparently, this is just a real estate deal.

Blackstone Group owns the land the hotel sits on. With such a prominent place on the Las Vegas Strip and its iconic status, it’s hard to imagine that the owners of the Bellagio would sell it to someone who won’t keep the name.

But this is Las Vegas, where stranger things have happened. A change in land owners can sometimes result in a change in property ownership.

Blackstone is allegedly looking to sell 50 percent of the land rights. It is unknown if that includes the dancing fountains in front of the hotel. The Bellagio Hotel itself is owned by MGM Resorts. MGM purchased the right to build on the property for $4.25 billion three years ago.

MGM has a 30-year lease agreement for ownership of the physical property, and a 5 percent stake in the land.