As reported by: Reuters
Boyd Gaming has acquired 13 acres adjacent to the southwest side of its Stardust Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, the casino operator said in a regulatory filing.

Boyd has said in the past that it is in "the very early stages of beginning to master-plan redevelopment of the Stardust site," company spokesman Rob Stillwell said on Wednesday.

The purchase -- for $43 million plus the acquisition of $16 million in debt -- increases the site's size to 63 acres owned and nine acres leased, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission made Tuesday.

"The land sits off the Strip and with the Stardust backed into it at two corners and having the Strip frontage, Boyd was the logical buyer for the parcel," Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Eric Hausler said in a report on Wednesday. He said the deal's price works out to "a very attractive $3.3 million an acre."

The report also said "we view the land as the placeholder for future growth of Boyd in Las Vegas, as we expect it to be redeveloped at some point into a mega resort, not sold to another developer."

Boyd said the acquired property is currently occupied by a motel, which the former owner will operate under a lease that expires in November 2006, with provisions for early termination.

The aging Stardust sits across the Strip from casino entrepreneur Steve Wynn's luxury Wynn Las Vegas resort, which is set to open next April.

At the other end of the strip casinos are owned by merging companies Mandalay Resort Group and MGM Mirage, which earlier this month unveiled plans to build a $4 billion casino and condominium development adjacent to the Bellagio casino.

Shares of Boyd Gaming were up 31 cents at $35.81 in late trading on the New York Stock Exchange.