Getting to the bottom of this matter is complicated by the fact that Tamares holds nothing in its own name, as far as we could ascertain from public records. The land that the Plaza Hotel sits upon, for instance, is titled to Hertz Rent-A-Car (according to the Clark County Assessor's site, which can be glitchy...) At any rate, it's unlikely that Tamares’ 11 acres are concentrated at one site.
The Lichtenstein-based conglomerate bought an $82 million grab bag of miscellaneous downtown real estate (including six casinos) in 2005, betting on a downtown renaissance. Among those acquisitions was the Ambassador East motel (916 E. Fremont St.) – since demolished – which occupied an entire city block and probably accounts for a big chunk of that 11 acres. Other Tamares holdings include vacant (and formerly vacant) buildings upon which it has been able to capitalize with what looked like risky speculation 10 years ago and seems like brilliance in the wake of the East Fremont comeback, the Downtown Project and similar cases of phoenixes rising from the ashes.
"We turned away money from convenience stores and more traditional retail outlets that wanted those buildings on Fremont and Sixth Street," Tamares main-man Jonathan Jossel told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "We let them sit empty, waiting for the right concepts, which turned out to be Don't Tell Mama, Le Thai, and this new bar, Commonwealth. I love that we created these individual outlets that are so unique …
"Personally, I have a soft spot for our Fremont East holdings. We had these little convenience stores and check-cashing places we got rid of and subsequently opened the Beauty Bar, the piano bar, and the Thai restaurant," Jossel added, later saying, "The Plaza [hotel and casino] is obviously the biggest and main focus, but the impact of those little properties down there shouldn't be underestimated." [For confirmation of that from an alternate source, check out the latter half of yesterday's State of Nevada show on KNPR.]
At the time in 2012, Tamares stated that it had plans for both the Western and the Las Vegas Club, but times changed and it wound up selling both, to Tony Hsieh (for $14 million) and Derek Stevens, respectively. Considering that the sale price for the Las Vegas Club was (a reported) $40 million, Tamares has gone a long way toward covering its $82 million bet of a decade ago.
