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Las Vegas Casino Death Watch
Last updated: January 17, 2012 Recent NewsA dark cloud has fallen over Las Vegas as yet another icon of gambling turns off its lights for the last time. We are, of course, talking about the Western Casino, and we are, of course, greatly overstating the emotional impact. Still, it's a casino closing, so it should be reported here. The Hooters sale is scheduled to occur by the end of March. No idea what happens to it after that, but we still think it's unlikely that it would be shuttered, at least not right away, and even less likely that it would be demolished. As we sweep out the old year and welcome the new, so too do we bid farewell to the Las Vegas Hilton and welcome LVH. The iconic sign out front has apparently been removed. Long time Las Vegas gaming reporter Jeff Simpson has passed away. Over its history, the Death Watch has quoted Mr. Simpson's work more times than we can count, and his has been a leading voice on news about the Las Vegas gaming industry. We send our condolences to his family and friends. Vegas Inc. reports that Hooters casino will be put up for auction. This is scheduled to happen by February 17. Assuming there are going to be new owners, and that seems like a safe assumption, no idea whether they'll keep it open, rebrand it, or what. This attracts our attention. Yet again, from the "Generalissimo Franco is Still Dead" Department, the site of the former New Frontier will remain undeveloped. Just as shocking, the owners now feel that the land is worth less now than when they bought it in 2007. Shocking, we know. It sounds like we have a new name for the Las Vegas Hilton. Apparently it will be ... LVH - Las Vegas Hotel! No, really. Okay, it seems clear that this name is designed not to be inspiring but to be inexpensive to implement. Given the present situation, we can't say we blame them, but it's still awfully bland. Game over: Western We had heard rumors, and they proved to be true. The Western will close on January 16, 2012. This ultimate downtown low-rollers joint was saved once from closure after 9/11 when it was owned by Jackie Gaughan. This time around, it's not so lucky. It isn't like this place is all that beloved, but it's always sad when people lose their jobs. The owners of the shuttered Sahara have received permits to renovate. First, it's one thing to pull permits and another to actually shell out to remodel the casino. We'll see what happens. Second, this hints that there won't be a big boom in the north Strip's future. We here at the Death Watch welcome the notion of a reopening Sahara and we wish the owners luck. A beautiful swan will emerge from the ugly duck egg that is the shell of the Lady Luck. Okay, sometimes we here at LV Revealed just like to write like a really bad novelist, but that doesn't mean there aren't big plans afoot to refurbish the Lady Luck as the Downtown Grand. They make it sound like work is already underway. Real progress here would be a big deal. Fitzgerald's is sold. The new owners are the Stevens brothers, who also own the majority of the Golden Gate. They say that they will immediately begin to improve Fitzgerald's and that there will be cross-marketing between the two properties. We at the Death Watch wish the new owners luck. The will not contest foreclosure proceedings by CWCapital Asset Management. We don't expect this to make much of a difference in the day-to-day operation of the place, at least not in the short term. In the longer term, who knows? We expect the place to stay open, but we cannot be certain that income for this property is enough to make it viable, so this gets our attention. Goldman Sachs is trying to foreclose on the Las Vegas Hilton. There's a problem, though. Some people out there think that this might represent a significant conflict of Interest for the company who's the largest single shareholder in the Stratosphere, one of the few other Las Vegas resorts still open north of Desert Inn Road. A judge will sort this out, but from a customer perspective, having the Hilton bought out by the Whitehall group wouldn't be the worst idea ever. Gaming Control recommended approval for the new ownership group to take over Aliante Station. The big players are Apollo Management, Texas Pacific Group, and Standard General, which may be the most generic name for an organization ever conceived by man. The new owners will inject enough cash into it to keep the business open. Station Casinos will continue to operate the place for the new ownership group. So, the new change will be largely transparent to Aliante Station's customers, at least for the time being. Riviera Holdings is selling their Colorado casino in order to focus on their Las Vegas property. The good news is that this means they should have some cash to pay off some of their debts, and maybe even a little left over to spruce up the old gal. At the very least, it should decrease the likelihood of the Las Vegas property closing in the near future. A deal has been struck to sell Fitzgerald's downtown to the same folks who own the Golden Gate. It isn't much of a surprise that the Fitz would be sold off, since Don Barden, the sole owner, passed away last May. The article referenced above suggests that part of the new ownership group's plans are to rename the property, which means that now is the time to start thinking about acquiring your Fitzgerald's memorabilia. As it says in the RJ article, a notice of foreclosure has been filed against the Las Vegas Hilton. This doesn't mean that debt holder Goldman Sachs will actually foreclose, but it's a necessary step if they choose to do so. So, what's up with the sealed up Sahara? The owners have acquired all the property's debt, and they've hired an architect to evaluate the site. We don't expect big moves any time soon, but you never know. It would seem that now is a good time for the Golden Gate to expand. They're knocking down the south wall to build 16 suites in five stories. With recent upgrades at the El Cortez, Golden Nugget, and now the Plaza, might this portend the downtown renaissance we've been anticipating for so long? Our answer is, "probably not", but it's still a good thing. Caesars Palace plans to open the mothballed Octavius Tower in January. While it doesn't quite rate the same excitement as, say, construction on Echelon starting up again, this would seem to indicate some optimism on the part of the resort industry. The Plaza has reopened. We haven't been down there yet to check it out, but early reviews are positive. As always, we wish the folks there the best and hope that this provides a rising tide for downtown in general. Gaming Today reports that UK gambling giant William Hill is kicking the tires, or tyres, as they say over there. William Hill is already making a name for itself in Nevada gaming by buying out the sports book operations of Leroy's, Lucky's, and the Cal Neva. Hooters is trying to avoid a forced foreclosure. This is possible if the debt-holder is willing to go along with it, but it's difficult to see how this happens if they don't. Regardless, we think we think it's less than 50/50 that it shuts down, but it's not implausible. Despite the bad economy, Caesars Entertainment is going ahead with an admittedly scaled down version of it's Linq project. The Imperial Palace will be renamed and a bunch of cosmetic changes will take place. O'Shea's will be moved inside of casino formerly known as the Imperial Palace. The current O'Shea's will be demolished. The Flamingo will receive an upgrade. Some new stuff, including a huge "observation" wheel, will be built between the casino formerly known as the IP and the Flamingo. We've previously reported that we've very little evidence of renovations occurring at Binion's. The owners basically confirm this, stating that they foresee Binion's continuing to operate for some time as it does now (casino open, limited dining, hotel closed.) They're seeking outside funding to help them do the massive refit that needs to be done to bring the Binion's hotel tower into at least the late 20th century, but it's a tough sell Implosion alert: Harmon MGM Resorts has decided what they're going to do with the beleaguered Harmon tower. They have decided to implode it. We don't know when and the plan still needs a host of approvals, but it looks probable that there will be a big boom at CityCenter at some point. Don't expect festivities and a celebration this time out. At the Death Watch, we're looking forward to seeing what's in store for downtown when the Plaza reopens in a couple of weeks. In the mean time, we get a pretty good overview of what the new place will look like from the Las Vegas Sun. Because it doesn't have a casino, it really doesn't fall under Death Watch auspices, but Steve Freiss writes a good article for the Las Vegas Sun on the Jockey Club. We think it's likely to be of interest to Death Watch readers. The Las Vegas Hilton is losing money and not paying all its bills. It's in talks to renegotiate the bulk of its debt. It's difficult to tell from the article what the true extent of the LV Hilton's financial situation might be, but it doesn't look to us like the path forward is as obvious as it is with, say, Hooters. We have a hunch that this might take a while to resolve. Hooters has filed for reorganization. It's the latest in a long line of reorganizations in the wake of the economic downturn. We're not surprised that Hooters has to go through this. Frankly, our surprise is that it has taken this long to happen. The question is how this will affect current operations. We don't know the answer to that. The county has given MGM Resorts one month to come up with a plan to repair the Harmon tower at CityCenter, or to demolish it. Yikes. First, we weren't sure that the structural situation with the building was that bad. Second, one month seems like an awfully short time to decide what to do with a building that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, not to mention the issues of trying to work out some sort of deal with the developers. In any case, we just might see an implosion in the next few months. Tim O'Reiley writes a good piece on the status of the North Strip in the latest Las Vegas Business Press. Predictions for this part of the Strip range from the difficult to the truly dire. At long last, the Las Vegas Hilton will be changing its name! To what, we don't know, but we expect to see movement on this before the end of the year. News came a couple of days ago that some investment groups, including TPG Capital, has put some money into the Palms. We didn't think much of it at the time, but there may be more to it than one might first think. First, TPG are the folks who own Caesars. Two, we don't know how much of a stake they have purchased. The bottom line is that we can't rule out the possibility that, more or less, Caesars just bought the Palms. This seems kind of crazy since just a while ago the rumor was that the Palms might be buying the Rio. We'll keep our eyes on this. From the "Meet the New Boss, Same As the Old Boss" Department, Station Casinos announces that they have emerged from bankruptcy. I guess we can wipe our hands of that whole sordid incident and pretend like it never happened. The folks who own the Plaza say they'll be reopening on September 1. Good for them. We look forward to this event. Vegas Inc does a piece on the Cosmopolitan. We agree with the article that Cosmo has become a relative success in the market, and we agree that this is at least somewhat surprising. We also agree that despite the fact that it's doing pretty well for Strip properties in this market, it isn't able to service its debt. What we don't agree with is that this is a big problem. Nobody who opened after 2006 has been able to service their debt. When Cosmo opened, did anyone think it wouldn't need its debt refinanced? It still does. If it can't make it's nut, and it won't, it will need to be restructured. Relative to its initial debt, it's still in a better place than City Center, M, Aliante Station, or Fontainebleau. At the Death Watch, we're glad it's doing relatively well. It's an exciting addition to a Strip that doesn't always excite us. It's doing better than we expected. It will need a refinance. No big deal in this market. What does the author think is going to happen? Is a place with a run rate this good going to just close up if it can't service the debt? Our understanding was that the reason the Sahara was closing was because the net loss the property was generating was too much to bear. We had hopes, though, that if the economy improved, it could be fixed up and reopened. These hopes have been dashed by the owners intention of selling the building's contents. We assume this means that the next time a casino opens on this parcel, it won't be called the Sahara and it probably will be preceded by demolition and reconstruction of some sort. Okay, it's official. Penn National Gaming is now the owner of the M Resort. We think. We have a new developer in charge of the long-shuttered Lady Luck downtown. Will this change finally get the project back on track? We don't know, but in a situation where the status quo has led to no progress, any change can't hurt. Herbst Gaming has changed its name to Affinity Gaming. Why the change? Mostly because since the reorganization there are no more Herbsts involved in the company. Terrible's Casino will keep its name, at least for now. The Gaming Commission gave it's approval for Penn National Gaming to take control of the M Resort. It appears that the ultimate conclusion to the deal hasn't happened yet, but we've been fooled before. In any event, developer Anthony Marnell III will still be involved in the day-to-day operation of the M, which we think is a good thing. He built a compelling property, it just so happened that he did so with the worst possible timing, and we don't blame him for that part. The Las Vegas Sun reports that Fitzgerald's owner Don Barden has passed away. The Death Watch sends its condolences to his friends and family. Casino Closed: Sahara The Sahara is now closed. We can't quite explain why, but this one doesn't seem so tragic as others. Maybe it's because we had the opportunity to fully explore the Sahara whereas others passed before we felt we had truly come to know them. Perhaps it's because the Sahara had really fallen on hard times and there just wasn't much left that we were compelled to experience one more time. In any case, it's still a sad day because one more of the old girls has fallen by the wayside. Our best wishes to everyone who worked there and remembered the place fondly. More on the closing of the Sahara, this time from the RJ. The last weekend at the Sahara. We can't think of anything to add to the article. Vegas Inc. writes about what's happening on the north end of the Strip, or, more precisely, what's not happening. Not really any new information here, but in this quiet time, it's what passes for newsworthy. No specific news, but the Review-Journal had a good article today covering the Las Vegas locals casino scene. Also interesting is the views of a gaming analyst on each of the major locals casino players at the end of the article. We don't agree with every point, but overall it's a pretty reasonable assessment. Casino Closing: Sahara The venerable Sahara Hotel and Casino is scheduled to close on May 16. We suppose it's possible that the place might reopen when the economy picks up, but there's a very real chance this is the end of this these buildings under this name. Those planning a Death Watch visit should schedule it now. Also, remember, it's entirely possible that it could close before the May 16 deadline under certain circumstances. As always, our best wishes go out to those about to lose their jobs. Once again, from the "Generalissimo Franco is Still Dead" Department, Green Valley Ranch will stay a part of the Station Casinos family. The debt will be reduced, and apparently the Greenspun Corporation will retain an ownership stake. The Riviera is getting a new owner. Creditor Barry Sternlicht will have a controlling interest as the property emerges from reorganization. It doesn't sound like much will change, as has been typical during the recession. Aliante Station is about to get a new owner. TPG Capital and Apollo Global Management LLC are on the verge of taking over the property. Formerly it was owned and managed by the Greenspun Corp and Station Casinos. Station will continue to operate it. This is a different deal than the Station bankruptcy provisions, but, obviously, the events are related. We don't expect the place to close, but certainly severing it from the Station network at some point down the road seems entirely possible. Caesars Palace is going to take one if its old hotel towers, the Centurian Tower, and convert it to its own little hotel. It will be called "Nobu", run by Nobu Hospitality LLC, which is owned, coincidentally, by restaurateur Matsuhisa Nobu, who is also responsible for a restaurant located in the Hard Rock named, Nobu. This concept may be extended to other hotels in the Caesars nee Harrah's chain. No word on what they might be named. In any case, there won't be any major demolition or construction, and there won't be a new casino opening, but it's stuff that's happening. The Hard Rock foreclosure is a done deal. Warner Gaming will be running the casino, and Morgans Hotel Group is completely out. We don't know what changes, if any, will be made in operations. Caesars is looking to raise money in order to do some building. They plan to finish the Octavius Tower and build up the area between the Flamingo and O'Shea's. Of course, they don't have the money yet, and they haven't stared (or restarted) construction, and they did float and then pull an equity offering a few months ago, but at least someone seems to think tha the worst of the economic downturn is behind us. The rumor mill has the Rio up for sale again. This time the rumorer is Robin Leach and the rumored buyer is The Light Group. For those who don't know, The Light Group are the folks who own a bunch of nightclubs and restaurants around town, such as "Haze" at Aria, "Jet" at the Mirage, and "Waste" at the Tangiers. Okay, so we made the last one up. Of course, Robin Leach isn't exactly our, uh, go to guy for this sort of news so we're not exactly sitting on the edges of our seats, but it's out there. The Hard Rock avoids foreclosure. We don't know what deal was made with the creditors, but this outcome isn't terribly surprising. We also don't know how this will affect day-to-day operations, if at all, but we don't expect any earth-shaking changes. It's not really about casino closings, but it is about "not opening", so I believe this would be of interest to Death Watch fans. Howard Stutz of the Review-Journal has a good article about the stalled construction projects in Las Vegas (and Laughlin). From the "I'm dizzy" department, a while back we at the Death Watch jumped the gun a little regarding Penn Gaming's purchase of the M Resort. Now it appears we missed the announcement when they actually acquired the property, because they're now doing advertising for it. We just plan to assume that the deal did indeed go down and that we now understand what's going on. It looks like the Hard Rock is putting up a fight against their would-be foreclosers. In the next several months, we don't expect any big changes in the property's operation. |
Got any information about Las Vegas casino closings? Don't hesitate to send us email at: npc@lvrevealed.com.
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