"On very shaky legs," says receiver Kevin Hanchett, in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He's trying to sell the property to Moulin Rouge Holdings but the company has only half a million dollars in the bank and Hanchett's asking price is $8 million. What's more, referring to developer Boris London, Hanchett says "They're saying that the money in the escrow right now cannot be used for this transaction." London's attorney objects to a sale at this time.
London and fellow developer Scott Johnson have fallen out but Johnson says he has found a new backer who would be interested in taking Moulin Rouge Holdings out of the $150 million project. To this news, Hanchett replied, "Nothing’s impossible, but transactions that are taking place at the last minute always make me nervous."
That $150 million budget, by the way, is supposed to cover mobile and Internet gaming technology, a "digital-content creation facility," film and music studios, some sort of institute of high learning, and "one of the premier entertainment, hotel, dining and gaming destinations in Las Vegas," which is a lot to ask of such a relatively modest bankroll, not to mention a casino-hotel built in an economically challenged neighborhood, away from the tourist corridor.
London basically admitted to being in over his head in an interview with the R-J. "I am the only person who has put money down. Right now everybody has ideas, but nobody is putting money down. The project is too big for just me to handle it — for anybody to handle. It will take much more than one person or one company [to finance this project]; it’s a huge, huge development." Between those remarks and London's lack of capitalization, it would appear that this latest revival of the Moulin Rouge was just more wishful thinking that will go the way of its many failed predecessors.
London's idea at the time was to request a subsidy from the City of Las Vegas or perhaps from Clark County. "It’s like a war zone other there. They need to do something with that. I have never seen a city — I mean, maybe Detroit — but I’ve never seen such a segregated city as Las Vegas." (Really makes you want to invest with London, doesn't it?) However, the city recently turned down a plea from Lucky Dragon hotel-casino for tax-increment financing, so London's chances for getting public monies seem equally dim. As a fallback position, London has suggested the city use the money instead to spiff up the Moulin Rouge's surroundings.
As of early June, London hadn't pulled any construction permits and was having trouble finding the money to demolish the buildings, including Treeline Condominiums, that remained on the site. Asbestos remediation is another hurdle to be cleared. London and Johnson made at least one bargain: Rebel Sand & Gravel, doing demolition for a nearby city project, smashed up the Moulin Rouge's old foundation in return for keeping their equipment on site. It's a start, but this effort to revive the Moulin Rouge is a long way from getting off life support.
We should know more next week, however, as the case dealing with the approval of the sale of the Moulin Rouge, originally scheduled to take place on Friday, has been moved to an oral hearing rescheduled for Tuesday. At this hearing District Court judge Elizabeth Gonzales will decide whether or not to approve the sale of the property to Moulin Rouge Holdings LLC; if she determines that the purchase agreement is invalid, then we assume it's back to drawing board for the site at 900 W Bonanza Road.
