Morgans Hotel Group has never seemed able to make up its mind about what to do with the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (one of the stranger acquisitions of recent years). Then-CEO Ed Scheetz came in talking big about classing the place up and raising ADRs. Fast-forward to ’09 and the HRH is staking everything on its skanky Rehab parties (does the staff have to don hazmat suits when cleaning up afterwards?) and going for the mid-price market midweek.
One can’t fault the latter half of that strategy, especially if you’re in an off-Strip location and could use the traffic. However, if Morgans goal was to increase Hard Rock ADRs, perhaps it shouldn’t have embarked on a ginormous expansion that practically obliterates Peter Morton‘s original hotel and dilutes the asking price per room. Also, I don’t know whether to praise Morgans for doing the impossible and completing (sort of) its Paradise Tower well ahead of schedule … or criticize it for being in such a hurry to churn some EBITDA that it’s opening it in an unfinished state.
But here’s hoping the business model works. The HRH is one of the few places in town that’s hiring, not downsizing. At lot of people’s jobs are riding on its success.
One less Wolfgang Puck restaurant on the Strip? That’s hardly a culinary tragedy, given that he’s still got — what? — five other places in town and has become the Ronald McDonald of haute cuisine. A laughable poster in McCarran International Airport uses Puck’s visage to push the message, “Less celebrity, more chef.” Uh, better put that the other way ’round.
The real tragedy here (aside from the loss of jobs) is the temporary demise of Poetry, one of the few venues in town to cater to an upscale African-American clientele. Harrah’s Entertainment and the Forum Shops went out of their way to put the dagger in Poetry. Now they congratulate themselves on a job well done. Thanks for nothing, fellas.
Bondholders finally lost patience with Station Casinos, tripping the bankruptcy lever. Interestingly, all Station casinos (small “c”) are shielded — which implies that it’s Station’s imperial expansion plans which are are shot and that its considerable real estate holdings could be up for grabs. It looks like über-resort Viva, long-suffering Durango Station, Losee Station and umpteen other projects are kaput.
Too bad for Station partner Colony Capital; if the latter goes forward with its Neverland Ranch tourist-trap plans, it may have to disassemble the old Michael Jackson Xanadu and relocate it, lock, stock and menagerie. And what does/did Station have in abundance? Raw land. It was a marriage made in business heaven but it surely won’t reach the altar now.
Speaking of suffering, what’s back on the auction block but the Greek Isles, which is $23 million underwater. Even at a revised valuation of $44 million, isn’t that far too much to ask for this unremittingly unsuccessful property, the second coming of the Castaways? Perhaps it’s time to exorcise this ghost which haunts the dead zone that is Convention Center Drive.
