“It gives the gaming firm the advantage of still profiting but spinning off the real estate of it,” said James Karmel, a casino gaming analyst and author of “Gambling on the American Dream: Atlantic City and the Casino Era.” Such a sale-and-lease-back transaction could provide Cordish with cash to finance new projects or expand current ones, experts in the gaming and real estate industries said, and has occurred among other casino operators in the country. Cordish will relinquish ownership of the real estate at its casinos at Arundel Mills in Hanover and in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh but will lease back the properties and “continue uninterrupted to own, control and manage all the gaming operations of the facilities,” the release said. The deal with Gaming and Leisure Properties, announced Monday, is valued at as much as $1.8 billion, according to a news release sent by the Pennsylvania-headquartered firm.
The Cordish Cos., the Baltimore-based developer behind Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland and Power Plant Live!, will sell its three casino properties to a real estate investment trust that specializes in gaming sites. Baltimore Sun eNewspaper Home Page Close Menu
