Question of the Day - 24 May 2024

Well, in our humble opinion, it's ... imprecise to try and compare the Tropicana and Moulin Rouge sites.

For one, the Moulin Rouge property is in an out-of-the-way little-seen part of Las Vegas (unless you happen to live in Westside or work across the street at the Las Vegas Review-Journal). For another, if the Tropicana were left to go the route of the Moulin Rouge, that corner of the Strip, one of the most highly visited destinations in the world, would be left to the tumbleweeds until at least 2093. 

Also, the Moulin Rouge site is the purview of the city of Las Vegas. The Trop falls under the rubric of Clark County, which is more sensitive to eyesores.

Fontainebleau is a case in point. The unfinished building, left to rot for long years on the north Strip, became such an embarrassment that, in an unusually proactive move, the Clark County Commission forced past owner Carl Icahn into wrapping the hulk — discouraging other sites-in-flux from similarly blighting the landscape in the process.

In fact, Clark County now requires buildings that go up to have contingency provisions in case they have to be suspended or dismantled. That’s a substantial incentive to get the Trop imploded and a nudge to get something, anything, else put up in its place.

Yet another consideration is that the Trop site, in excess of 30 acres, is one of the last major parcels on the Strip. Leaving it even partially empty (and that's assuming that the A's baseball stadium gets built, which is no slam dunk) subtracts from the tax base, an important consideration in a state where gambling and retail pay the freight.

It’s also unappealing for visitors to see scrubland, at best, across from such Strip pleasure palaces as MGM Grand, New York-New York, and Excalibur. Already, Mandalay Bay is literally facing the evidently defunct Dream Las Vegas, which no one is happy about, least of all MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle. And we’re with him on that.

Mind you, Hornbuckle (or somebody) might have to ride to Bally’s rescue vis-a-vis the Tropicana build. Here's what our business blogger David McKee says about it. 

"Having arguably overcommitted themselves to Chicago, Bally’s faces a bank account of less than $200 million and a credit line that’s tapped out. The bottom line is Bally’s can’t afford to build on the Trop site. Company Chairman Soo Kim recently teased the news media that he’s open to a joint-venture partner in Las Vegas. That’s fancy Bally’s speak for, 'We’re broke. Please save us from ourselves.'