Can You Provide an Update on the Cal-Neva at North Lake Tahoe?

Can you provide an update on the status of the Cal-Neva at North Lake Tahoe? It seems all work has stopped and whatever was going to happen now appears to be dead. All of the residents in the area were looking forward to its reopening under Larry Ellison. It looks like he has disappointed everyone by doing nothing.

We put several questions to Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corporation and ninth-wealthiest American, and received deafening silence in return.

“Doing nothing” seems to precisely encapsulate the situation at the Cal-Neva. It’s a hard-luck property, having been placed in bankruptcy in 2016, but not purchased until 2018 for $36 million by Ellison.

A Cal-Neva blog shows desultory signs of construction, but judging by the dates on the photos, these are from pre-Ellison ownership. It also offers a lengthy explanation of the convoluted financial ins and outs that brought it to bankruptcy court.

Ellison made a number of headlines in late 2019 when he announced a partnership with Japanese hotel-restaurant chain Nobu to rebrand and revitalize the Cal-Neva.

Unfortunately, that’s about where the trail of news peters out. Ellison was reported as having put in for a gaming license, but the Nevada Gaming Control Board says that's not the case.

One might have expected the Ellison/Nobu marriage to deliver much, as it already had at Epiphany hotel in Palo Alto, California, and Ellison’s Nobu Ryokan hotel in Malibu. Plus, a Lake Tahoe pied-a-terre would find Ellison rubbing elbows with Mark Zuckerberg. Jeremy Renner, Alyssa Milano, and other tax refugees drawn to Nevada shores.

Perhaps we shouldn’t have expected so much. An Ellison lieutenant ominously told the Hollywood Reporter that “projects of this magnitude in Lake Tahoe typically require significant patience on the developer’s part. … Anyone jumping into this needs a thick development stomach, patience, and a strong team of attorneys and planners,” he added.

With COVID-19 wiping out most of 2020 and the casino business just getting back on its feet, Ellison may think it too soon to proceed with a high-profile gaming project. Only the Oracle knows for sure.

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mofromto Aug-06-2021

So sad

I remember going seventeen years ago to Lake Tahoe and stopping there for a lake view lunch in the dining room. The property even though already dated then was lovely and evoked the glory days when it was a Hollywood hideaway for celebrities. Over the years I would stop by for a visit only to find it in decline from literally half of the slot machines being removed to it being shut down completely. I hope it is re-opened eventually and restored as it is a magnificent site.

Kevin Lewis Aug-06-2021

Too bad

North Tahoe is a beautiful p;ace that doesn't get the crowds you see in South Lake and Stateline. I consider it a waste of time to gamble in a casino while I'm in Tahoe, but a reopened Cal Neva could provide lodging options, of which there are not all that many. 

This answer didn't mention the Tahoe Regional Planning Authority, a government agency with huge, sharp teeth that oversees literally everything concerning development and construction in the Tahoe basin. You can't put a birdhouse in your back yard without permission from them. I wonder if they are a factor in the Cal Neva's non-development.

Question of the Day - 06 August 2021

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