Alex Meruelo (born March 27, 1964) is a

Cuban-American Cuban Americans ( es, cubanoestadounidenses or ''cubanoamericanos'') are Americans who trace their cultural heritage to Cuba regardless of phenotype or ethnic origin. The word may refer to someone born in the United States of Cuban descent or ...

billionaire who holds business interests in banking, real estate, media, restaurants, food, casinos, and professional sports. He is the owner of Meruelo Group, as well as Meruelo Media, which owns five radio stations and two television stations in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. In addition he is the owner of Fuji Food, two casinos, the Grand Sierra Resort in

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

and the

Sahara Las Vegas Sahara Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Meruelo Group. The hotel has 1,616 rooms, and the casino contains . The Sahara anchors the northern end of the Las Vegas ...

in Las Vegas and is the majority owner of the

Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are a professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Coyotes compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and currently play at the Mul ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

Biography

Meruelo was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. His parents were accountants who fled the Castro regime. His family moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, where they held a bridal shop and invested in local real estate. He also started to invest in real estate at an early age, and eventually sold a plot of land in Riverside to

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

, making him a millionaire in his early 20s.Alex Meruelo sees L.A. Latinos as key part of his highest-profile bet: a Las Vegas casino
''Latimes.com'', 20 April 2018 Meruelo attended the

Don Bosco Technical Institute Don Bosco Technical Institute (commonly called "Bosco Tech" or "The Tech") is an all-male (grades 9-12), private, Catholic high school in Rosemead, California, combining college-preparatory academic courses and technological education. The acade ...

Rosemead, California Rosemead is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2021 census, it had a population of 50,245, currently dropping. Rosemead is part of a cluster of cities, along with Alhambra, Arcadia, Temple City, Monterey Park ...

, and received his B.S. from California State University, Long Beach.

Career

Meruelo began his career in his father's

tuxedo Black tie is a semi-formal Western dress code for evening events, originating in British and American conventions for attire in the 19th century. In British English, the dress code is often referred to synecdochically by its principal element ...

business. At the age of 23, he decided to open a new type of pizza restaurant catering to Latinos in the US and offering unusual toppings such as chorizo and jalapeños. He bought a failing pizza restaurant, and called his new business La Pizza Loca. Within 5 years, La Pizza Loca opened 12 locations and reached $10 million in sales. Meruelo expanded his business focus, founding the Meruelo Group, which has grown into a

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form Physical object, objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Pr ...

and

real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...

firm. Meruelo Group has ownership of Neal Electric Corp, Select Electric Inc., and Doty Bros within the

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

area. The group also owns Commercial Bank of California. which Meruelo co-founded in 2003,

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the eart ...

KWHY-TV KWHY-TV (channel 22) is a Spanish-language independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by Meruelo Broadcasting alongside Garden Grove–licensed KBEH (channel 63); the two stations share RF channel 4 u ...

and

KBEH KBEH (channel 63) is a television station licensed to Garden Grove, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area as an affiliate of Canal de la Fe, a Spanish-language religious network. It is owned by Meruelo Broadcasting alongside S ...

, radio stations

KLOS Klos or KLOS may refer to: * Klos (surname) * Klos, Dibër, a town in eastern Albania ** Harketari Klos KF, a defunct football club based in Klos, Dibër * Klos, Elbasan, a village in central Albania * Klos, Mallakastër, a village in south-central ...

, KLLI,

KPWR KPWR (105.9 FM) – branded as ''Power 106'' – is a commercial radio station in Los Angeles, California, broadcasting to the Greater Los Angeles area. KPWR is owned and operated by Meruelo Group and airs a Rhythmic Hot AC format. KPWR's stu ...

KDAY KDAY (93.5 FM, "93.5 KDAY") is a radio station that is licensed to Redondo Beach, California and serves the Greater Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Meruelo Media and airs a classic hip hop format. The station's studios are located in ...

and

KDEY-FM KDEY-FM (93.5 MHz, "93.5 KDAY") is a commercial radio station that is licensed to Ontario, California and serves the Inland Empire area. The station is owned by Meruelo Radio Holdings Ltd. and broadcasts a classic hip hop format. The KDEY-FM t ...

under the Meruelo Media banner, and the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. Meruelo purchased food manufacturer and the largest provider and distributor of pre-packaged sushi in the United States Fuji Food in 2009. In September 2011, Meruelo announced a $25 million investment in the renovation of the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. In February 2013, the Meruelo Group made a bid to buy

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino Trump Plaza was a hotel and casino on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, owned by Trump Entertainment Resorts. Designed by architect Alan Lapidus, it operated from May 15, 1984 until September 16, 2014. History The beginning The ...

for $20 million. The deal fell through and the casino closed the following year. The

SLS Las Vegas Sahara Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Meruelo Group. The hotel has 1,616 rooms, and the casino contains . The Sahara anchors the northern end of the Las Vegas ...

(formerly the

Sahara Hotel and Casino Sahara Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Meruelo Group. The hotel has 1,616 rooms, and the casino contains . The Sahara anchors the northern end of the Las Vegas ...

) in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

, was purchased by the Meruelo Group in June 2017. Alex Meruelo plans to turn the casino into a favorite destination for the Hispanic community. Meruelo plans to use its media properties to advertise the casino and its events. In May 2019, SLS brand owner SBE Hotel Licensing, LLC filed a lawsuit alleging that Meruelo's Las Vegas Resort Holdings, LLC had failed to pay at least $450,000 in licensing fees since November 2018. On June 28, 2019, The Meruelo Group and Alex Meruelo announced plans to rename the SLS Hotel as The Sahara Las Vegas. On August 29, 2019, the Meruelo Group officially changed the SLS Hotel to Sahara Las Vegas and is located on Sahara Blvd.

Professional sports

In November 2011, Meruelo's bid to take ownership of the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

from the team's then owners

Atlanta Spirit Atlanta Hawks, LLC (formerly known as Atlanta Spirit LLC) was an Atlanta, Georgia-based parent company formerly the holder of the franchise of the Atlanta Hawks, a professional basketball team in the NBA, and the Atlanta Thrashers, a former profe ...

was turned down. The team was later sold to

Tony Ressler Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

in 2015. In June 2019, he purchased majority ownership of the

of the

from previous sole owner

Andrew Barroway Andrew Barroway is an American hedge fund manager. He is the minority owner of the Arizona Coyotes hockey team in the National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice h ...

who retained a minority stake. With his purchase of the Coyotes, Meruelo became the first Latino owner in the NHL.

Real estate

In May 2008, Meruelo purchased a 8,500-square-foot, $7.05 million house at 36 Indian Creek Drive in Miami. In March 2014, he acquired a $10.79 million penthouse in

The Langham, New York The Langham, New York, Fifth Avenue, or The Langham, New York, is a luxury suite hotel and skyscraper in Manhattan, New York City, operated by Langham Hospitality Group. It was constructed in 2010 as The Setai Fifth Avenue and took on its curre ...

. In June 2018, he purchased Colom Island in Spain for 3.2 million euros. In June 2021, Meruelo purchased a 22,000-square-foot, $12.1 million house in Paradise Valley, AZ.Catherine Reagor
Arizona Coyotes owner buys $12.1M home in Paradise Valley; former PetSmart CEO sells one
''AZCentral.com'', 21 June 2021

References

External links

Meruelo Group official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meruelo, Alex American real estate businesspeople American construction businesspeople American food industry businesspeople American businesspeople in mass media American radio executives Arizona Coyotes owners California State University, Long Beach alumni American people of Cuban descent Businesspeople from New York City 1960s births Living people National Hockey League owners 20th-century American businesspeople