A development company from Arizona beat out three of Las Vegas’ titans — Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn and Anthony Marnell II — during a bidding war that broke out at today’s Clark County Commission meeting.

The prize: A lease for the last 15 acres available for private hangar development at the county-owned McCarran International Airport. In a town known for extravagance, having a personal hangar for all of one’s private jets is something of a status symbol, apparently not to be underestimated. Bidding began at the appraised rental value of $615,771 a year, but that figure was dwarfed by the end of the auction.

Wynn, who owns casinos on the Strip and in Macau that bear his name, dropped out shortly after the opening bell. Marnell, who developed the Rio and helped build several Strip casinos, stuck around for a few rounds, but gave up after a bid of slightly more than $1 million.

That left Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp., which owns the Venetian, and Rightpath Limited Development Group, a privately held investment and development company based in Phoenix. The odds seemed stacked in Adelson’s favor. He’s the world’s sixth richest man and owns several private jets, including a Boeing 747.

The two sides upped the ante by $5,000 to $100,000 at a time, but ultimately Rightpath won with a whopping $4.4-million-a-year bid. That translates to $132 million over the life of the 30-year lease.
From the taxpayers of Clark County, thank you to all who participated.