If Rod Smith writes it, give it about 20% chance of happening. Smith is a total joker, he hates gambling and has zero credibility with gaming insiders in this town. Lerner is just taking a guess, nothing more.
The whole thing makes zero sense. Colony has a ton of land to work with at the LVH property, if they just wanted to add features or condos they could easily do it. I could see them cutting down on the size of the book because the casino floor is rather small, but the Hilton isn't targeted at gamblers anymore. Its main feature is being next to the convention center, a very valuable feature these days. I could see them doing something to better connect it with the convention center and enlarging the convention areas in house, but nothing more. Razing the LVH and turning it into another City Center would be a massive folly and I just can't see how in that location any half-intelligent person would believe that is the best option.
Circus Circus will get razed, but it is too obvious. If I had to guess I would say Harrah's makes a lot of sense. With the company having so many properties, they could afford to take the hit and move customers elsewhere for a few years. The Harrahs property isn't much considering its premium location. Feels and looks very dated. Would be a nice part of the whole remodel of that core area if they decide to step up and spend the money. Imagine what they could do with the land of the IP and Harrahs. Next door to the Venetian they need to step up.