By james art It would be easy to write off Mesquite as a dying casino town based on what drivers can see along Interstate 15 as they travel north into Utah.
Sure, there’s a nice patch of green near where the Casablanca hotel-casino sits on the city’s south end—right next to a piece of vacant land where the Oasis once stood, with an abandoned pedestrian bridge over Mesquite Boulevard from the passive parking garage that once was served a casino-hotel with 900 rooms.
Several commercial signs are visible from the highway. A few storefronts, a couple of nice baseball fields, and another pair of big casinos, Virgin River and Eureka on the north end. Another golf course, the Palms, then the daunting Virgin River Canyon, an engineering marvel in northwestern Arizona that was one of the most expensive and challenging interstates ever built because it was carved into solid rock.
What can’t be seen from the highway are the growing neighborhoods full of retirees and second homes for snowbirds that make Mesquite home during the winter months. Also tucked away are nine other award-winning golf courses that many players claim are the best courses in the Southwest. The fairways are slotted into red rock canyons with tee boxes towering over the desert landscape. Courses with names like Wolf Creek, Conestoga and Falcon Ridge have dozens of signature holes that golfers rave about.
Three big casinos
Also unseen are big plans on the horizon at the three major casinos that represent Mesquite’s gaming industry – Casablanca, Virgin River and Eureka.
Privately owned and operated by the Lee family, Eureka is undergoing a $100 million expansion and renovation project that was announced in April.
Executive Chairman Greg Lee said the first $40 million went toward refreshing 212 hotel rooms and a 40,285-square-foot casino.
The second phase of Eureka’s expansion — referred to internally as Eureka 3.0 — includes new development on approximately 35 acres behind the casino. The company wants to build retail, resort complexes and apartments, including workforce housing, on a strip overlooking the resort.
“We had to put the cap on our multi-generational family business, which has another wonderful component, a family business, 100 percent employee ownership,” said Andre Carrier, Eureka’s COO. “You have to look at the kinds of investments that are essential to the business, that bring returns over the long term.”
Eureka’s neighbor Virgin River and Casablanca are owned by Mesquite Gaming. The company has positioned Virgin River as a big draw for locals and a budget option for visitors who come to town for special events, golf tournaments and youth sports competitions. Casablanca has established itself as a more luxurious getaway destination for tourists from Utah and Las Vegas. Its spa and golf packages are well-touted in Las Vegas, and Mesquite locals view the establishment as a special-occasion treat.
New showroom
Casablanca is adding something else, a new showroom that opened this month and is expected to bring new energy to the property.
“We are so excited about the showroom and that brand new bar that is right outside the showroom,” said Mesquite Gaming CEO Justin Moore. “We will be moving all of our normal entertainment that we had in the central area of the Casablanca showroom to the showroom. That means a bigger space, a bigger dance floor, a bigger stage and brighter lights.”
Moore said there’s no specific genre of music he’s targeting — just a plan to be flexible and see what works best. Expect local bands that have done well in Las Vegas to make an appearance.
Moore expects the showroom to be a big draw for his most important market, Mesquite locals.
“It’s a growing community that actually almost doubles in size in the winter with the influx of snowbirds,” Moore said. “This is our number one priority. The median age of the city of Mesquite is 65, so that kind of gives you a good idea of what type of age demo we’re looking at. Now, because of our location in Mesquite, we offer a very unique, diverse business model.”
That’s why spas, golf, fine dining and a variety of music offerings are right in Mesquite’s wheelhouse.
The other important market is linear, along the I-15 corridor, from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City. Utah has the youngest demographic profile in the nation, so Mesquite is positioning itself as a destination for youth sports competition.
Rising star
The Lee family, which owns Eureka, also operates Rising Star Sports Ranch, which is considered family-friendly, smoke-free and casino-free. Its amenities include an indoor field house for batting cages, horseshoe pits, a putting green, volleyball, basketball and pickleball courts, a corn hole and an outdoor “backyard” with picnic tables and fire pits.
Because the desert climate is mild, even in winter, Mesquite is home to a variety of tournaments throughout the year, including the Nevada Open golf tournament in November. The Mesquite courses are also home to qualifying tournaments for the US Open, and in the past have hosted long-drive events for power golfers.
Mesquite Councilman Brian Wursten, the city council representative on the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors and director of golf for Mesquite Gaming, knows the city’s courses are big drivers of the local tourism economy. He adds that the collection of sports tournaments, combined with several special events sponsored with LVCVA dollars, keeps Mesquite busy most of the time, but also creates a feast-or-famine scenario that Mesquite leaders sometimes struggle with.
Wursten, who has now been in Mesquite for 32 years after living in Richfield, Utah, came to town to open Oasis Golf Club and during his tenure also opened Falcon Ridge Golf Course in 2004.
“When I moved here, there were 2,200 people,” Wursten said. “Now there are over 25,000.”
Wursten thinks the LVCVA does a solid job of marketing to the community, but would like to see more events on the calendar to increase and spread the volume of visits.
He also said Mesquite could establish itself as a gateway to Utah’s national parks and could even be an overflow destination for Las Vegas mega events like the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix and future Super Bowls. Last year, he said, Mesquite filled up during those events because of the relatively easy 90-minute drive to Las Vegas and the city’s serviced airport, which can handle private jets.
Popular special events in Mesquite include a hot air balloon festival in January and two classic car shows a year. The community has also tried to get involved in a rib festival rotation.
Oasis land
The dilemma for the community is that when there is a popular event or sports competition, the hotels are crowded and it is easy for Mesquite Gaming to consider developing the passive land of Oasis.
Moore said Mesquite Gaming acquired Oasis, formerly owned by Randy Black Sr., who closed most of the property during the Great Recession. The building was eventually demolished and remains a Mesquite Gaming real estate asset.
“The Oasis closed during the previous ownership,” Moore said. “Given the age of the property, it was a great financial burden for Mesquite Gaming to keep it up and running. And so they decided to tear it down. Obviously, this is a phenomenal property that we inherited in this project. We will eventually have plans for this space, and we think this space can certainly complement all the phenomenal things happening at Mesquite Gaming.”
But for now, the land is empty, a symbol of what Mesquite once was and a promise of what may someday happen again.
“We’re looking at all the possibilities and ideas for this space,” Moore said. “Number one thing, whatever we decide to do, it has to be able to complement everything we already have.
“This land represents an incredible opportunity to improve everything in the city that is so exciting right now,” he said. “So we’re constantly looking and exploring our options with all of our assets. It just depends on when the right opportunity or the right decision comes our way. And when that happens, I think it will be a great day for the city.”
Contact Richard N. Velotta at [email protected] or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.