North Dakota Tribe Closes Purchase Of Las Vegas Massacre Site

The Three Affiliated Tribes have now closed on the sale of the 15-acre Village property in Las Vegas.  The MHA Nation of the Forth Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota has sealed the deal of obtaining the property from MGM Resorts International.

This prime real estate has a very grim past.

The Associated Press reports the land was the site of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.  On October 1, 2017, a gunman rained bullet upon bullet into a mass of concertgoers attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival.  He killed 58 people and more than 850 others were hurt by the time the attack ended.

The property has not been used since that day.

Over the summer, MGM Resorts donated two acres of the property for a permanent memorial to be created on the site. These acres are not included in the MHA land purchase. MGM Resorts Internation CEO and President Bill Hornbuckle added this in a letter on Friday.

Hornbuckle says he knows the location means a great deal to many. But the Tribes “have demonstrated that they care about our community, its future and, of course, its past,” he wrote.

It's unknown at this time what the future plans are for the site.  It's obviously a prime casino location but it may be used as a constant revenue generator as event parking among other options. Surely the Three Affiliated Tribes will soon release their plans for the land parcel.

It may have a dark past, but here's hoping it's a bright future for the MHA Nation.

It's a story that has been unfolding for quite some time and goes back to dividends from oil tax revenues earned by the tribe. Here are excerpts from a story I published on this site back in June 2021.  Information provided by InForum.

In the early months of the pandemic, an oil-producing Native American tribe in North Dakota was looking for somewhere to invest a cut of the nearly $1.7 billion in tax revenues they've collected from oil drilling on their reservation over the last decade and a half. They found it in a bankruptcy auction that chopped up a large, vacant property just off the central casino-lined corridor of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Mark Fox, who in November 2022 was elected to his third term as Chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes, had added this to the conversation back in 2021.

Tribal Chairman Mark Fox said they could use it to build anything from a tribally operated casino to a parking lot.

“We saw it as an opportunity to get land — prime real estate land — in Las Vegas for a good price, and that’s essentially why we went there,” 

A parking lot may not be Las Vegas sexy, but with the location near the 43-story Mandalay Casino and within a mile walk to Allegiant Stadium and its Raiders' NFL games and year-round events, parking could pay off without MAJOR infrastructure investment. We shall wait and see what the MHA Nation has in store.