Last week, Las Vegas-based commercial real estate and development company the Siegel Group announced that it had completed the sale of the Artisan Hotel Boutique to Pro Hospitality Group for $11.9 million.

Alex Rizk, the owner of Phoenix-based Pro Hospitality Group, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he is planning a $3 million renovation of the 64-room hotel on Sahara Boulevard at Interstate 15 near the Las Vegas Strip. He said that when the regulations are in place at the state and local level, he will make the Artisan a “cannabis-friendly” destination for tourists to the city.

“This is a lifestyle, boutique hotel,” Rizk said.

The Siegel Group acquired the Artisan Hotel in 2009, “transforming the location into one of the most well-known and visited boutique hotels in Las Vegas,” the company said in a statement about the sale.

“The hotel gained a loyal following among locals, tourists, and boutique enthusiasts who were drawn to the location’s eclectic design and hip, intimate atmosphere,” the company wrote. “The unique hotel contained a bar-lounge with a popular after-hours scene, a restaurant, wedding chapel, and one of the few topless pools in town.”

Cannabis Consumption Lounges Authorized Last Year

Last year, Nevada lawmakers passed legislation that gave the state Cannabis Compliance Board the authority to regulate lounges that allow the onsite consumption of weed products. The board is currently in the process of drafting regulations and local governments will have the authority to enact tighter measures. Officials from Clark County, home to Las Vegas, announced in January that they were keeping track of efforts to regulate cannabis consumption lounges at the state level.

Under the 2016 ballot measure that legalized recreational pot in Nevada, the consumption of cannabis products was only legally permitted in private residences. The legalization of regulated cannabis consumption lounges was intended to give visitors a place to enjoy the benefits of the state’s cannabis reform.

As a state senator in 2017, Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom led the first effort in the state legislature to legalize cannabis consumption lounges. Last year, he characterized lounges as a “game changer” for the state’s hospitality businesses.

“Consumption lounges are so perfect for our tourism industry,” Segerblom told the Review-Journal. “The sooner we get out there, the more we’ll be looked upon as a marijuana-friendly city and state.”

New Owner Has Cannabis-Friendly Hotel in Phoenix

Pro Hospitality Group already operates a cannabis-friendly hotel, the Clarendon Hotel and Spa, in its home city of Phoenix, Arizona. The hotel’s website informs potential guests that the property features “cannabis-friendly rooms and amenities” that allow “vaping, dabbing, flower, etc.” The Clarendon also boasts a cannabis consumption lounge that is open to both hotel guests and the general public.

“Since we are currently a split-use hotel with cannabis and non-smoking rooms, we do ask that any smoking take place in your cannabis-friendly room and not in the public areas of the hotel,” the website notes. “Vapes and smokeless products can be used in outdoor public areas, not including the restaurant.”

The Clarendon also notes that it is “working on a cannabis shuttle service to take hotel guests from the hotel to a local dispensary and back again,” according to the website.

The property opened its first cannabis-friendly rooms in July, followed by the rest of the west wing of the hotel for a total of 16 guest rooms that welcome the consumption of cannabis products. The Clarendon is also accepting reservations for a limited number of rooms on the cannabis-friendly lodging booking site Bud and Breakfast.

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