Beso of death; Atlantic Club reborn

Eva LongoriaEva Longoria‘s SHE byMorton’s (formerly Beso) has closed for the second — and presumably final — time. This time we can only put so much blame on Longoria and focus instead on owner Tilman Fertitta. This rare misstep by Fertitta proves he’s only human after all. COO Scott Marshall attributed SHe’s demise on an inability to reach terms with CityCenter over how to repurpose the defunct nightclub portion of the two-story venue. A temporary closure by the Southern Nevada Health District can hardly have helped, either. SHe gets credit for trying to vary the Las Vegas steakhouse experience, “with smaller portion sizes for female customers. Mirrors on the back of the dessert menus were designed for patrons reapplying lipstick after their dinner.” But there just doesn’t seem to have been a market for that and an experiment launched with great fanfare exits quietly stage left.

* — The Atlantic Club Hotel won’t stay closed for long. TJM Properties hilton-atlantic-city-casino-hotelpaid an undisclosed (but undoubtedly dirt-cheap) price for it, planning to operate it as a non-gambling hotel. TJM is a big believer in Atlantic City, having purchased the Claridge Hotel from Caesars Entertainment, for $12.5 million. At the moment, TJM isn’t going to be hurried into doing anything with the Atlantic Club, “to finish developing the restaurants and other attractions at the Claridge before turning its full attention to the Atlantic Club property.” The sale also gives Caesars pin money to reinvest elsewhere — maybe some much-needed capex maintenance for the company’s older Las Vegas properties. Just a thought.
Wait until fall. That’s the sentiment of Illinois state Rep. Robert Rita (D), who has put his gambling-expansion bill aside, as it lacks the support of many key players at this point. But Illinois’ existing casinos are hardly out of the woods. Rita will be back in the autumnal veto session: “We will be considering important revenue and budget issues during that session. I believe gambling expansion should and will be a major factor as we make these critical decisions going into 2015.” S&G doesn’t think the Chicago-only version of Rita’s bill will fly, whereas his rural-casinos-plus-racinos alternative has the power to please many constituencies.
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