Developer Sam Cherry buys foreclosed Bent Inn in downtown Las Vegas and plans to convert it into studio apartments

What happened

Las Vegas developer Sam Cherry said Thursday that he bought the former Bent Inn, a closed hotel at the northeast corner of Ogden Avenue and 11th Street, for $3.2 million, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. He plans to spend just over $1 million converting the 33-room property into a residential complex.

According to a news release from Cherry's real estate firm, the guest rooms will become studio apartments. The property's 2,400 square feet of retail space is slated to become a new hospitality concept. Cherry said he expects to open the apartment building in 90 days, noting the site went through extensive upgrades not long ago.

How the deal came together

Purchased from lenders after foreclosure

Clark County property records show lenders foreclosed on the site in May, the Review-Journal reported. Cherry said he bought the property from those lenders, that the transaction closed Thursday, and that his group planned to begin cleaning the site Friday morning.

The sale had not appeared in the county's online property sales records by midday Friday. Cherry indicated the paperwork may have been delayed amid widespread email outages, according to the Review-Journal.

A link to the complex next door

The former hotel sits next to an 84-unit apartment project Cherry's group opened in 2023. Cherry told the Review-Journal that the purchase provides connectivity to his Share Downtown-branded complex next door.

The Bent Inn's short run

The Bent Inn, at 1108 E. Ogden Ave., opened in fall 2023 as Las Vegas' only gay-owned boutique hotel and marketed itself to LGBTQ travelers, the Review-Journal reported. It closed abruptly less than a year later, with the owners citing an ongoing legal dispute with the general contractor.

The hotel reopened last year, but in fall 2025 management announced what it called the Bent Inn's final closure. In a social media post quoted by the Review-Journal, management wrote, "Well, we tried," adding that "some things just aren't meant to be."

Cherry's bet on downtown housing

A track record of downtown projects

Cherry, the 48-year-old chief executive of Cherry Development, has built condo towers and apartment buildings in the downtown area. His projects include the Soho Lofts and Newport Lofts condo towers from the mid-2000s real estate bubble, the 63-unit Share Downtown apartment building that opened in 2020, and the 104-unit Share Westside that opened this year.

He also plans to open the Good Word Social Club, a two-story commercial complex next to the Westside apartments, early next year. Readers following similar projects can find more in our development coverage.

Recognition from the mayor

Cherry announced the purchase Thursday evening at a gathering in a 15th-floor Soho Lofts unit he still owns, marking his company's 25th anniversary. Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley presented him with a Key to the City, saying he is making Las Vegas "a more livable and wonderful place to live," the Review-Journal reported.

More downtown land in play

Cherry pointed to other possible development in the area. He noted that city officials have started looking for a developer for roughly 11 acres of city-owned real estate downtown, and he expects more sites once owned by the late Tony Hsieh to go on the market. The Review-Journal reported that Hsieh, the former Zappos chief who died in 2020 at age 46, left behind a large portfolio that included vacant lots and boarded-up motels since demolished. For more on local housing, see our real estate section.

What to watch next

• Whether the converted studio apartments open within the 90 days Cherry described.
• When the sale appears in Clark County's online property sales records.
• The planned hospitality concept for the property's 2,400 square feet of retail space.
• The city's search for a developer for roughly 11 acres of city-owned land downtown, and the planned early-next-year opening of the Good Word Social Club.