I’m whaling away on a couple of non-gaming fronts today but I wanted to at least drop in and say that Hooters Casino Hotel goes on the block next month, so bust open your piggy banks. But seriously … Creditor-in-Chief Canpartners Realty Holding Company IV can plunk down a $178 million credit bid on the place. The chances of anyone topping that with real money? I would rate them at considerably less than zero. Even today’s good news that Hooters has slightly improved its revenue and considerably narrowed its operating deficit (by what means I dare not imagine) underscores the fact that Hooters is a low-grossing casino that loses money.
But perhaps the drooping fortunes of Hooters can be firmed up somehow. One doable — although highly unlikely — scenario is tailor-made for Station Casinos. The latter owns a “floating” license it bought several years back, one that permits it to build a casino sans hotel rooms. Let’s say Station were to either satisfy Canpartners’ actual cash outlay (roughly $50 million) or be jobbed in as a management company. Hooters (presumably rebranded as a Wildfire, although I’m partial to “Wild Wild East”) could them demolish its rickety parking garage and everything back of the casino, starting with the stinky, noisy pool area. That would leave the property with its key revenue drivers — the cozy casino, F&B, the showroom — intact, leaving ownership with a nice, little, stand-alone casino just off the Strip … one that would require much less staffing, but let’s not dwell on that. At the risk of immodesty, it makes at least as much sense as all “business plans” put forward by the outgoing ownership, which basically consist of pouring ever more water into a bottomless bucket. Alas, Station’s own spending constraints (and heavy burden of moribund real estate) would probably thwart my proposed salvage operation, regardless of how minimal a cash commitment it would take.
That darn Trop. It just can’t stay out of trouble, can it?
