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Cosmopolitan Has New Owners, Culinary Says Workers Staying

  The Cosmopolitan hotel and casino will have a new owner as state regulators cleared the way for Deutsche Bank AG to sell the Las Vegas Strip resort to a division of the Blackstone Group for $1.73 billion.

The Nevada Gaming Commission voted unanimously Thursday to approve transferring gambling licenses after hearing from Blackstone executives.

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Those executives say they expect the deal to close Friday.

Deutsche Bank had assumed development of the 2,960-room swanky high-rise after the original developer defaulted on the loan, opening the hotel-casino in December 2010.

Blackstone executives say they're looking at converting housekeeping units into 46 additional hotel rooms and building out the top four floors of one of the towers that remained unfinished.

Blackstone earlier named William McBeath - a longtime casino-hotel executive- the hotel's CEO.

The Culinary Union announced that workers at the Cosmopolitan will be keeping their jobs at the resort.

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According to a news release from the union, the workers at the resort will be keeping their positions and their health benefits.

“We are committed to working with Blackstone to ensure that these workers have the opportunity to provide for their families,” said Geoconda Arguello-Kline, Secretary-Treasurer of the Culinary Union.

The union has protested outside the property over an unsigned contract. It has been trying for more than a year to come to an agreement.

Several other large properties, including MGM Resorts International which owns the neighboring CityCenter, have signed the contract with the Culinary Union.

Blackstone Group also owns Hilton Worldwide. The Union says that resort chain is one of Unite Here’s, the Culinary Union’s parent union, largest employers.
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Natalie is an Emmy-award winning journalist who has worked in the Las Vegas market since August 1996, starting as a newscast producer for KLAS-TV Channel 8, and later as an online editor for 8newsnow.com.