Prime property used to cost up to $34 million an acre; today it can sell for as little as $3 million to $6 million
Monday, Sept. 2, 2013
A decade ago, when business was booming in Las Vegas and tourists flooded the Strip with cash, developers seemed destined to pull in record profits with each new multibillion-dollar project they announced. America’s zeal for spending and fun, coupled with consumers’ disposable income, fortified builders’ confidence. Many inked absurd deals to gain a foothold in Las Vegas’ real estate market. Some paid as much as $34 million for a single acre of land.
The claim was filed in response to a lawsuit by Sun Editor and Publisher Brian Greenspun, who says R-J owner Stephens Media's efforts to dissolve a joint operating agreement between the two papers would effectively kill the newspaper his father, Hank Greenspun, started in 1950 and make Las Vegas a one-newspaper city.
Bill O'Hara, the chief operating officer of Galaxy Gaming and an original executive of Shuffle Master Gaming, died Wednesday morning after a long bout with an unnamed illness. He was 73.
An outsider might conclude there's a lot of partying going on in an employees-only floor at the Bellagio. There's no bar in sight but still the place smells like booze. Inch closer to a pair of double doors across the hall from the resort’s carpentry office, and the alcoholic aroma grows stronger. Peek through a pair of windows and you find the source.
A federal judge today granted Las Vegas Sun Editor and Publisher Brian Greenspun a temporary restraining order blocking an effort by Stephens Media, owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, to terminate a longstanding agreement in which the R-J prints and delivers the Sun.
David Furnish, Elton John’s spouse, is opening a new Champagne lounge at Caesars Palace, between the Strip resort’s Colosseum and Forum Shops. Fizz Las Vegas will clock in at 2,750 square feet and feature a high-end selection of Champagnes and spirits.
Tom Ryan is the guy who came up with the idea to stuff cheese into a Pizza Hut crust and tuck McDonald’s egg, meat and cheese into sweet maple pancakes.Ryan now has a new project: his growing Smashburger brand.
Famed Las Vegas haunt Gold & Silver Pawn Shop is closing for a week of renovations. Featured on the History Channel’s smash show “Pawn Stars,” the shop will be closed from Aug. 25 to Aug. 30.
Ask about power on the Las Vegas Strip and you’ll likely hear about casino executives, pit bosses and county commissioners. Though their roles might be pegged to running Las Vegas, you can’t ignore the power hidden in control rooms — under buttons and switches.
Sun Publisher and Editor Brian Greenspun has sued Stephens Media, owner of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, in an effort to derail Stephens’ plan to dissolve a long-standing business agreement in which it prints and distributes the Sun and shares advertising revenues with the Sun.
Smashburger is set to open its first Henderson-area restaurant this weekend. Management plans to open doors at 10 a.m. Saturday at 9460 S. Eastern Ave.
In a lifetime of gambling, Marcus Mitchell has learned that luck is rare. Big breaks come around maybe once or twice. But Mitchell has experienced more than his share of victories. He sees that as something other than luck.
The High Roller is taking shape on the Las Vegas Strip. Half of the 550-foot-tall observation wheel is jutting into the sky above the Linq entertainment district, which is under construction between the Imperial Palace and Flamingo. When finished, the High Roller will be the largest observation wheel in the world — bigger than the London Eye or Singapore Flyer.
The King of Pop is back for an encore. Bally Technologies Inc. has unveiled a follow-up to its Michael Jackson King of Pop slot machine. The new game, expected to hit casino floors in Las Vegas within the next two months, is called Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.
It’s 11 a.m. on a recent Wednesday, and Jon Foster is sitting at his desk, waiting for the next call. A loaded .38 special rests on a cabinet next to his leg. A Cirque du Soleil performer walks into the bail bonds office holding a crisp $100 bill. Wearing a backward hat, baggy pants and high-end sneakers, the performer blends well with the clientele at Bail Bonds Specialists on Casino Center Boulevard. Most of the people who use the get-out-of-jail service are normal folks, first-time offenders.
After four major protests outside the Cosmopolitan since January, the Culinary Union is turning up the pressure. The Culinary now plans to picket outside the Strip resort every weekend until they secure solid contracts for the 2,000 workers.
There’s no reason a woman can’t take the leading role. That was the takeaway of MGM Resorts International’s 7th Annual Women’s Leadership Conference this week.
Power to part of the Flamingo on the Las Vegas Strip was knocked out for hours today as a result of ongoing construction at the adjacent Gansevoort, a company official said.
Caesars Entertainment Corp. is selling its Macau golf course to an Asian developer for $438 million. The gaming giant announced the sale Friday in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Dotty’s wants to buy the Hacienda. If state regulators approve the sale, the resort would be Dotty’s first full-scale casino. The Hacienda sits about three miles from the Hoover Dam, just outside Boulder City, where gambling is illegal. Built on the former site of the Gold Strike Casino, it features 19,000 square feet of gaming space, a William Hill sports book, retail shops and a movie theater.
Joel Weiner is a self-proclaimed zombie expert. He has seen the movies. He has attended the conferences. And he's trying to make a living selling zombie wares. So he knows exactly what he would do to survive a zombie apocalypse.
Joel Weiner knows where he’d hole up if hordes of zombies took over the Strip. “The Stratosphere,” he says straight-faced, looking out the storefront window of his recently opened specialty shop, the Zombie Zone. “I’ve scoped it out.” Weiner’s zombie escape plan includes racing up to the top of the Stratosphere, turning off the elevators and bungee jumping off the side of the building. Weiner isn’t the least bit shy about his morbid imagination. He opened the Zombie Zone about eight months ago, after years of chewing over the idea with his wife, Susan.
The M Resort has closed its poker room to make space for a new slots tournament area. The resorts previously held it slots tournaments in a conference style ballroom, but players were unhappy with the lack of space, according to Rina Foster, an M Resort spokeswoman.
Treasure Island wants build a three-story shopping center on the Las Vegas Strip. If approved by Clark County commissioners Wednesday, TI would have to eliminate a third of its Sirens of TI lagoon to make room for the 46,000-square-foot center. Spread over 19.5 acres, it would include a pharmacy, retail shops, restaurants and an automobile salesroom.
The Cosmopolitan lost $25.2 million in the second quarter, according to an earnings report released Friday afternoon. Casino revenue suffered most, generating $30.6 million compared with the $38.6 million pulled in the second quarter last year.
Station Casinos has bought and closed a pair of popular Southern Nevada bars to open new Wildfire Casinos. The locals casino operator has shut down the Lift Bar, a popular joint at 3045 S. Valley View Blvd., and Doc Hollidays in Henderson.
The rowdy sea of red and blue flooded a short stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard. About 3,000 workers from the Culinary Union and California School Employees Association rallied together for the 2,000 hospitality workers at Cosmopolitan.
Social gamer turns slot points into a special birthday gift for his wife
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
A Seattle man has parlayed a hobby of playing social games on Facebook into an unforgettable birthday present for his wife. Eric Wiebusch recently earned 1 million points playing slots on the MyVegas social game. That was enough to earn the game’s top reward: the chance to pick the song for the Bellagio fountains.
For months, there has been the steady buzz of saws, the hammering of nails and the grumbling of bulldozers. Now, at the end of a 1,200-foot pedestrian walkway, a 550-foot-tall observation wheel is taking shape. Developers of Caesars Entertainment's Linq offered a sneak peek today of the development, a $550-million dining, retail and entertainment promenade expected to open in December.
Palace Station has opened a new gaming area called The Casino Bar. The bar is outfitted with 10 55-inch flat-screen televisions all tuned to sports, as well as 30 $1 and 25-cent video poker machines on the bar.
Tom Gourley wouldn’t turn down a chance to open a Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop on the Strip, but he’s not fighting for the opportunity, either. He says he sleeps better knowing he’s free from the control of major casino companies, whose oversight he compared to dictatorships.
Sheldon Adelson has never been shy about blasting his Las Vegas competitors during earnings calls. On Wednesday, he jabbed at MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment Corp. for low room rates.
At the stroke of midnight Monday, a boycott of the poker room at Sheldon Adelson's Venetian began. But virtually no change was visible Monday afternoon. Dozens of visitors crowded the tables. The only sign of a boycott was online.
In a tiny conference room about 15 miles west of the Strip the scientists spoke of extraterrestrials as preparation for this weekend's Mutual UFO Network Symposium.
After more than a year in the making, Carmine’s opened its doors in the Forum Shops at Caesars on Tuesday. The 27,000-square-foot Italian eatery now employs more than 200 people and offers more than 700 seats.
Looking to buy a business in Las Vegas? You might have to go no farther than your computer. Hundreds of local companies and shops are for sale on the Las Vegas page of Craigslist.
The Culinary has had a reputation as the scrappiest labor union in town from nearly its inception. Deservedly so. The union has organized several successful strikes.
When Las Vegas' largest labor union sits down every five years to hash out new contracts with the city's major resorts, it's often a cordial affair. Insiders have compared negotiations between the Culinary Union and its two biggest partners, MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment, to a Thanksgiving dinner or a friendly waltz. But despite the overt coziness, the Culinary, which represents about 60,000 bartenders, maids and food servers, pulls no punches. The union has a track record of using guerrilla tactics to pressure resorts into inking contracts that increase worker wages, subsidize health care benefits and guarantee full-time workweeks.
Joseph Francis paid a hefty commission in the early 2000s when he sold a previous salon. Now, crunched by Southern Nevada’s crumbled economy, Francis said he would rather save cash and try doing the job himself using the free online listings site Craigslist.
Plumbing problems at the Flamingo have put several parts of the resort on hold. Officials have closed the food court, several hotel rooms and shows until repairs are made.