GLPI completes purchase of Cordish’s Pennsylvania casino assets

Cordish Companies Live! Casino Hotel Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Gaming and Leisure Properties has finalised the acquisition of the land and real estate assets of Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia and Live! Casino Pittsburgh from The Cordish Companies, for total consideration of approximately $674m.

This comes after the real estate investment group rolled-out a three property deal with the company in December, which was shortly followed by the completion of the purchase of land and real estate assets of Live! Casino & Hotel Maryland for a total of $1.14bn. 

Simultaneous with this latest closing, GLPI has entered into a master lease with Cordish, pursuant to which it will continue its uninterrupted ownership, control and management of the operations of Live! Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. 

The PA Live! master lease has an initial annual cash rent of $50m and a term of 39 years, with a maximum term of 60, inclusive of tenant renewal options, as well as a fixed annual lease escalation of 1.75 per cent beginning in the third year.

Peter Carlino, Chair and CEO of GLPI, explained: “We are delighted to add the Live! Pennsylvania properties to our portfolio, and expand our presence in the attractive Pennsylvania market with truly world-class properties. 

“The Cordish Companies is world renowned for creating large-scale experiential real estate projects, casinos, hospitality and entertainment districts and we believe their Live! brand exemplifies their track record of development and operating success. 

“Further, our PA Live! Master Lease with Cordish has strong rent coverage and is part of an accretive overall transaction that positions Gaming and Leisure Properties to continue to build value for shareholders through our industry leading, high quality tenant roster. 

“We are excited to welcome the Live! Pennsylvania properties to the GLPI family and we look forward to working with their team to support the long-term success of the properties. 

“In addition, our announced transactions with Bally’s Corporation for properties located in Rock Island, Illinois and Black Hawk, Colorado are now expected to close in the first half of 2022, while the transactions for Tropicana Las Vegas are expected to close by year end.”

Live! Philadelphia features more than 510,000 square feet of gaming, including 2,100 slot machines, 116 live action table games, a 29 table poker room, 15 electronic table games, and a FanDuel Sportsbook and Lounge, as well as a 208 room hotel and an array of further amenities.

Live! Pittsburgh is a 100,000 square foot facility that features 750 slots and approximately 30 live action table games, plus a FanDuel Sportsbook.