Group of investors to buy Sahara

Owners of the Sahara Hotel & Casino, a Rat Pack hangout and the setting of the original “Ocean’s Eleven” film, have agreed to sell the aging property to an investor group.

Officials from Los Angeles-based SBE Entertainment Group and San Mateo, Calif.-based Stockbridge Real Estate Funds said they’ve entered into a contract to purchase the Moroccan-themed casino and hotel from Gordon Gaming Corp. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“The Sahara is one of the last remaining original properties on the Las Vegas Strip, and we are thrilled with the possibilities that it presents,” SBE Entertainment Chief Executive Sam Nazarian said in a statement late Friday.

The sale includes a 17.5-acre parcel on the north end of the Strip and the hotel-casino with 1,720 rooms. The Sahara is one of the oldest properties on the Strip. It lost its high-end clientele as upscale development on the Strip moved south.