As reported by: Associated Press
The Reno Hilton, northern Nevada's largest hotel-casino, is up for sale. A real estate broker for Park Place Entertainment Corp., the Hilton's parent company, confirmed the property is on the market, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported Thursday.

The hotel-casino near Reno-Tahoe International Airport has 2,003 rooms, nine restaurants, 200,000 square-feet of convention space and a 115,000 square-foot casino.

It was the largest casino in the world when it opened in 1978 as the MGM Grand.

A spokesman for Park Place acknowledged that various properties are being considered for sale but would not name them.

Len Ramos, a Reno investment properties associate with CB Richard Ellis, confirmed a buyer is being sought.

Yes, its being handled out of our Las Vegas office," he told the newspaper.

Ramos said he has been asked to conduct valuation studies for the sale.

"They are negotiating with several people, but I have no idea how imminent anything is," he said.

Park Place, which also owns Caesars Tahoe in Stateline, is the world's largest casino company and manages or has an interest in 29 gambling properties under the Caesars, Ballys, Paris, Flamingo, Grand Casinos and Hilton brands.

Last week, the company told investors its third-quarter net income was $48 million, up 20 percent compared with the same period in 2002, on revenues of $1.22 billion.

Reno Hilton President Tim Maland and spokesman Steve Trounday directed inquiries about the sale to Park Place headquarters.

"We told investors and the public last week in our earnings release that we have formalized offers on various properties," said Robert Stewart, spokesman for Park Place in Las Vegas, declining to offer specifics.

"We have made no decisions on any sales."

The company said as much in a filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. An asking price for the Reno Hilton could not be confirmed, but last spring, state and county tax appeals boards lowered the taxable value of the resort 31 percent from $130 million to $90 million.

Hilton officials had argued for a 40 percent reduction, to $78 million. In contrast, the Washoe County assessors office valued the Hilton at $146.8 million as recently as 1996.

The Hilton reported cash flow of just $9.6 million for fiscal 2001-2002, which included the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that hurt hotel revenues from coast to coast.

More recently, the Reno Hilton and Caesars Tahoe along with the Las Vegas Hilton and Flamingo Laughlin recorded a combined cash flow of $8 million for the second quarter, down from $18 million from the second quarter of 2002.

Rumors about a potential sale have been circulating for at least two years, since Park Place sold the downtown Flamingo Reno hotel-casino, now the Golden Phoenix.

"Analysts have been saying they are going to clean up the brand because it is going to be renamed Caesars, and several properties don't fit well with that brand," Reno gaming consultant Ken Adams told the newspaper. "The Reno Hilton is certainly one of them."

Park Place officials announced earlier this year that the company's corporate name would be changed to Caesars Entertainment.