South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa (formerly South Coast) is a resort located along Las Vegas Boulevard in Enterprise, Nevada, south of the Las Vegas Strip. It is owned and operated by Michael Gaughan, the founder of Coast Casinos. It includes a casino and a 25-story hotel with 2,163 rooms. Coast Casinos purchased the site in 2001, and announced the South Coast project in April 2003. Construction began one year later. Coast Casinos was subsequently merged with Boyd Gaming. The South Coast was built at a cost of $625 million. It opened on December 22, 2005, and included an casino and 652 rooms. A second hotel tower opened the following year. The resort struggled early on, and Gaughan took over ownership from Boyd in October 2006, renaming it the South Point. A third tower was opened in 2008, and further expansion took place in 2010, adding new restaurants and additional casino space. The resort has an equestrian and events center, and was the namesake for Gaughan's NASCAR team, South Point Racing. It is also the sponsor of the South Point 400 stock car race. History In November 2001, Coast Resorts (later Coast Casinos) announced that it had acquired a 50-acre parcel in the southern Las Vegas Valley. The site is located several miles south of the Las Vegas Strip, at the southwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Silverado Ranch Boulevard. Interstate 15 runs alongside the property's western edge. Coast planned to begin construction of a locals casino on the property within three years, once housing development picked up in the area. South Coast (2005–06) In April 2003, Coast Casinos announced that it would build the South Coast resort on the property, with the opening expected two years later. It would be similar to the company's Suncoast Hotel and Casino. It would be built in the fastest-growing area of the Las Vegas Valley, and would be the first major resort in the area, which included the small Silverton hotel-casino. It would compete against the Green Valley Ranch hotel-casino, located approximately five miles east. Coast Casinos owner Michael Gaughan initially said that the resort would target a younger clientele and focus primarily on the locals market. Early in the design phase, a total of 750 rooms were planned. Gaughan subsequently added three 245-foot hotel towers to his plans for a total of 2,139 rooms, stating that he viewed the project as