Raiders buy land where their stadium will be built

The Oakland Raiders have purchased a land parcel for their new stadium, essentially finalizing the site selection. Not quite bordering the Strip, the parcel is behind Mandalay Bay and across (west of) the I-15 freeway. The purchase price for the 62-acre parcel was $77.5 million.

There’s no current schedule for the start of the stadium construction, as many details and a great deal of paperwork must still be attended to before plans can be firmed up. The biggest question mark now appears to be where space will be found for parking.

It’s a wrap: The unfinished Fontainebleau on the north end of the Strip will be covered by a wrap to hide its weathered exterior. Only the three bottom stories will get the treatment, with work beginning within 180 days. The projected cost is $500,000.

WoF hits again: The Wheel of Fortune slot was hit for a $725,000 jackpot last week at the Monte Carlo. It’s the second time in two months that WoF has been hit there. Last month the payout was $525,000.

Question: Would you say that the Las Vegas economy has completely recovered from the tough economic times?

Answer: Though the gambling win is still slightly off, visitation is at an all-time high and the casino industry has mostly recovered. But that’s not necessarily the case with the city as a whole. A new report from the listing serv-ice Trulia indicates that Las Vegas has the country’s lowest percentage of homes that have fully recovered from the housing decline, with only 0.6 percent having reached their pre-recession values. The next lowest, Tucson, is four times higher at 2.4 percent, and the national average is more than 50 times higher at 34.2 percent.

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