ITT to Purchase Desert Inn for $160 Million : Gaming: The deal with Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp. marks the first foray into casinos for the company’s Sheraton unit.

ITT Corp. said it signed an agreement to buy Desert Inn Properties from an investment group led by financier Kirk Kerkorian for about $160 million.

The move marks ITT’s first foray into gaming. For almost a year and a half, ITT Sheraton, the holding company’s lodging unit, has been seeking a major acquisition of a gaming property.

“This agreement is the culmination of yearlong discussion, which began with personal conversations between Kirk Kerkorian and me,” said ITT Chairman Rand V. Araskog.

Kerkorian is the major shareholder of Tracinda Corp., which is selling Desert Inn. The group has a major stake in MGM Grand Inc., which is building the 5,000-room MGM Grand Hotel and Theme Park in Las Vegas.

ITT Sheraton is a lodging company with more than 400 owned, leased, managed and franchised properties in 61 countries. The unit has annual revenue of about $4.5 billion. ITT’s other units make automotive and electrical parts, pulp and timber products and defense products.

“It offers (ITT) a classy property on the Las Vegas Strip, with good facilities and room to expand,” said Phil Hevener, co-owner of Las Vegas Style, a magazine that focuses on the entertainment business in the city.

Some of the features include 1,700 feet of space on the Strip, 820 rooms and 17,000 square feet of casino space.

“We are very pleased to add a full-service resort in Las Vegas, the country’s No. 1 destination city and one of the largest convention cities in the U.S. with over 22 million visitors per year, to ITT Sheraton’s lodging system,” Araskog said.