I understand that one of the big problems with doing any upgrades at Binion’s is the ownership mess of the underlying land. Care to take a crack at an overview of the problem and your guess as to whether there will be a resolution to it in the foreseeable future?
We answered this same question about a year ago and since then, nothing has changed.
At that time, Binion's General Manager Tim Lager told us that the owners of Binion’s has ideas they'd like to execute, but a renovation of that scale would be very expensive. Lager implied that it would require outside investment, saying the company had been talking to several parties, trying to drum up interest.
“It’s a big priority for us,” Lager said. But apparently, not big enough to have made any progress in the past 12 or so months.
Looking on the bright side, Lager didn’t say a thing about demolition, so we can strongly presume that the hotel tower’s survival is assured.
As for the situation with the ownership of the land, ostensibly, the landlords must approve any major redevelopments and we can't say for sure if the reopening of the Apache Hotel in the original wing of rooms was dependent on it or not; either way, TLC Enterprises, which manages Binion's and the Four Queens, pulled off remodeling and reopening those 81 rooms. As long as Binion's pays the rent every month and doesn't suddenly implode the property, we figure the landlords will go along with whatever improvements management wants to make.
Clark County records show the land that Binion’s sits atop (128 Fremont Street) is split between two owners. After the casino was seized from Becky Behnen in 2003, part of the casino floor actually had to be taped off, as one of the landlords hadn’t yet approved the transfer of ownership (temporarily) to Harrah’s Entertainment.
It could be worse. The nearby Golden Nugget (129 Fremont Street) sits on five discrete parcels.
It also seems unlikely that Derek Stevens will ever be able to implode and redevelop The D, sitting as it does atop another five different plots, including one belonging to a Masonic lodge.
It was critical to Stevens’ creation of Circa, after all, that he was able to obtain and consolidate several pieces of terra firma, including the former sites of the Las Vegas Club, Girls of Glitter Gulch, and Mermaids, the latter famous for its bananas dipped in chocolate … sadly long gone.
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Tim Soldan
Mar-03-2024
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stephen rosol
Mar-10-2024
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