HOUSTON – Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta, owner of the Landry’s restaurant chain and the Golden Nugget hotels and casinos, has agreed to but the Houston Rockets professional basketball team for $2.2 billion, the Houston Chronicle reports.
Rockets owner Leslie Alexander announced several months ago that the NBA team was for sale.
Fertitta, 60, is chairman of the Board of Regents at the University of Houston. Born in Galveston, Fertitta has a personal net worth of $2.4 billion, ranking No. 235 on the Forbes list of richest Americans.
His restaurant portfolio includes Morton Steakhouses, McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood and a number of other brands.
Fertitta is developing the 35-story Post Oak tower on the West Loop, a mixed-use project with more than 100,000 SF of office space and a 240-room hotel.