Criticism of Yung begins to sting

Posted on February 25, 2008 by David McKee

Editorial pinpricks, like a Cincinnati Enquirer jibe about “pay to play,” evidently took their toll on Columbia Sussex CEO William Yung III. Defending his high-profile push for a Kentucky casino, which has included strewing more than $1 million in the path of Gov. Steve Beshear, Yung told The Associated Press: “I’ve got a First Amendment right to spend my money any way I want to spend it.”

And he’s absolutely correct about that. Yung’s efforts may be ham-fisted but there’s nothing the least untoward about them.

Beshear’s granting of preferential access to the hotel mogul is another thing entirely. When you have to do as Beshear did and say there’s “no quid pro quo,” you’re basically closing the door to the perception barn long after the horse has bolted.

That perception of a Beshear-Yung embrace appears to have stiffened the winds into which Beshear’s casino proposal is sailing. Already a House subcommittee has proposed trimming the governor’s mooted 12 casinos to nine. An uphill fight in expected in the state Senate and even then Beshear would still have to make his pro-casino pitch to voters. At least he knows a few deep-pocketed donors who would be happy to help him sell the idea.

As for Yung, he runs rings around the AP reporter, making it sound like he’s calling the shots on the Atlantic City Tropicana sale. He also succeeds conflating the two-dozen Trop suitors with the unknown duo who have supposedly shown interest in Casino Aztar, in Evansville, Ind. — a market that’s certain to be grateful for cross-river competition from the Bluegrass State.

Local businessman hopes to spend $700 million bringing back the Moulin Rouge but can’t pony up child-support payments? I sure hope this isn’t a metaphor for events to come. Then again, Las Vegans have learned to take an “I’ll believe it when I see it” attitude where the resurrection of the Moulin Rouge is concerned.

Glad that’s settled. AEG Live/Concerts West President John Meglen has pronounced the IRS raids on the offices of Pure Management Group nothing more than a few “disgruntled employees stirring it up.” Yep, keep moving everybody. Nothing to see here.

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Kentucky, The Strip | Comments Off on Criticism of Yung begins to sting

Ameristar scraps project: "Et tu, Missouri?"

Posted on February 22, 2008 by David McKee

Ameristar Casinos has pulled the plug on $100 million or more in renovations and expansion of its Kansas City riverboat complex, including the addition of a hotel tower, taking a $4.5 million write-down in the process. It cited a combination of factors in its decision, which came during a quarter which saw profits come in 30% below Wall Street expectations.

One factor, of course, the specter of casinos across the state line in Kansas. The other is blow from closer to home. Earlier this week, the Missouri Gaming Commission gave unanimous approval to a 14th casino license. The casino would be in nearby Sugar Creek and so far the only applicant is a Des Moines company, Wild Rose Entertainment.

Ameristar must now pin its hopes on a bill by Missouri House Rules Committee Chairman Shannon Cooper that would cap the number of Missouri casino licenses at 13. In return, loss limits would be repealed. It’s a foot race to March 19, when the 14th license will be awarded.

Ameristar execs evinced a sense of betrayal, with CEO John Boushy saying they were “really scratching our heads trying to understand the decision-making criterion being used by the Missouri Gaming Commission.” The company fears losing $60 million a year in business to Sugar Creek alone.

With a nod to Wild Rose’s plan for a casino costing one-third as much as Ameristar’s, company co-chairman Gordon Kanofsky railed at the commissioners: “After requiring and encouraging operators to invest in their properties as they have and then destroy their ability to make a return on that investment by allowing a bare-bones facility in the marketplace, it just doesn’t seem fair.”

End of an era? Former Gov. Evan Mecham (R-AZ), impeached 20 years ago, died yesterday. His signal accomplishment was to unilaterally revoke the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, a move that brought opprobrium and boycotts upon the state of Arizona (as did Mecham’s use of racially offensive language). Today an African American is the Democratic frontrunner for president and Mecham is virtually forgotten outside Arizona. We’ve come a long way.

Posted in Ameristar, Election, Kansas | Comments Off on Ameristar scraps project: "Et tu, Missouri?"

Tropicanned

Posted on February 21, 2008 by David McKee

I've spent the morning at the Las Vegas Tropicana and may be too tired (and too dehydrated) to blog worth a damn. Jeez, that place is humid!

Oh well, so as not to leave readers empty-handed, here's a copy of the Culinary Union's handout detailing (D. Taylor-ing?) the preposterous demands the Culinary alleges are being made by Trop owner Columbia Sussex.

Posted in Columbia Sussex, The Strip | Comments Off on Tropicanned

Equal time for dogs

Posted on February 20, 2008 by David McKee

Given the groundswell of interest in the misadventures of Chubby, our would-be office cat, and Mojo, our fearsome ‘watch lizard,’ I’ve been asking around about other Huntington Press critters. Bethany Coffey, our marketing guru sans pareil, offers this contribution about her dog Flocki.

“He’s a four-year-old German Wirehaired Pointer mix (mixed with what, I couldn’t guess, he may even be a purebred for all I know). I adopted him last October from the Adopt A Rescue Pet organization. They save dogs from being put down at the other shelters and then pay to have them boarded in private facilities. A very good organization.

“While his breeding says he’s a bird dog, he hasn’t been clued in himself. He’s never even noticed a bird, though they’re all over the place in the park near our house. Additionally, he has webbed feet for swimming but is afraid of the water. He does point  —  at his food dish when he wants it filled. Also at anything that remotely resembles a toy that might be thrown for a fun game of catch (or keep-away if he’s feeling ornery).

“When I adopted him he weighed in at 48 pounds and was told by one of his caretakers that he’d gotten very depressed since he’d been put in the kennels and wasn’t eating much. His mood has picked up, apparently, because he now tips the scales at a very healthy 70 pounds. He’s no purse puppy, but he doesn’t know it. He loves to crawl on my lap while I’m at the dining room table or on the couch.

“And if I weren’t afraid that Flocki would eat Chubby, I’d take her home myself.”

In other news, City Life teases my next report.

Posted in Charity, Pets | Comments Off on Equal time for dogs

Labor troubles at Station, Trop

Posted on February 19, 2008 by David McKee

Ever since the Las Vegas Business Press was made subordinate to the business desk of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the latter had ‘dibs’ on any of the former’s stories it coveted — or so it was explained to me at the time. (I didn’t care to stick around to see this in effect and, thankfully, was spared that experience.)

All of which is prologue to wondering why the bigger paper passed on (or missed) the opportunity to snatch up a Valerie Miller story about a class action suit leveled against Station Casinos. Three ex-Station employees are suing the locals giant, accusing it of Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, Station Casinos | Comments Off on Labor troubles at Station, Trop

Neon Museum on hold

Posted on February 19, 2008 by David McKee

From the pages of the Las Vegas Sun …

For want of $1.5 million, work on the long-awaited Neon Museum has ground to a halt. Mind you, this is a museum that would preserve many of the most evocative relics of an industry that raked in $12.8 billion in gambling win in the Silver State last year.

With so much money pouring into casino coffers, you’ll never convince me that a spare million and a half can’t be spared to make an hommage to the Strip icons of yesteryear. Heck, Steve Wynn probably loses that much under his sofa cushions.

South Point owner Michael Gaughan is the point man pushing for rescinding the ban on cell phone use in Nevada sports books. It’s an idea worth debating but there is one small fly in the ointment: Enforcement of the proposed new rule would rely on the honor system. We’re given the less-than-reassuring assurance that “most locals know the rules and don’t violate them.”

Yes, and most people obey practically every law (except maybe speed limits). All it takes is a few rotten apples and — kaboom! — the majesty of the law is down upon Nevada and Delaware, not to mention any other state (like New Jersey) that is considering the legalization of sports betting. I’m just sayin’.

Bo Belinsky remembered. For some of us, he will be best known as the ex-husband of 1965 Playmate of the Year Jo Collins. (No, tasteful nudity does not lurk beneath that link. Sorry, guys.)

Elsewhere …

Dictator steps down, U.S. still cutting off nose to spite face. Political posturing, si! Commerce? Free exchange of ideas? Cuban cigars? No! I mean, Cuba is a dangerous superpower, not a free-speech-loving, human-rights-promoting, democratic, economically non-threatening, anti-Communist little country — like China. (Or, if you’re my age, “Red China.”)

Local columnist Hugh Jackson points out (in Jacksonian fashion) that a post-Fidel Cuba is probably A Good Thing for the casino industry. For American sugar beet producers … not so much.

Las Vegas CityLife, which “lends its dubious endorsement” to S&G, among other fine blogs (including VegasTodayAndTomorrow.com) is launching a new rotating blog of its own.

Posted in Charity, Current, International, Sports | Comments Off on Neon Museum on hold

New condo tower slated for Strip

Posted on February 18, 2008 by David McKee

Remember that second tower of Allure Condo Las Vegas that was supposed to be built, then was scrapped? It’s back … after a fashion. Developer Andrew Fonfa has consolidated the 2.3 acres where Allure Phase II was to have gone (at a cost of $17.4 million) and intends to build a 1,340-unit condo/casino/hotel tower, with the emphasis on “hotel.” There will be nine stories’ worth of underground parking and a 67,800-square-foot casino floor. Other amenities will include a health club, a showroom and a 37,000-square-foot convention center.

Presumably because of the project’s small footprint, the casino, restaurants, retail, back-of-house operations and showroom will be stacked through the first eight floors, with hotel rooms and condo units starting on the ninth floor. The property owner, Sahara Investments LLC, has requested — among other things — a non-restricted casino license and a zoning variance within the McCarran Airport overlay, following in the footsteps of the Christopher Milam-James Packer Crown Las Vegas tower.

S&G has obtained copies of the justification letter sent to the City of Las Vegas and of the building plans. The letter characterizes the planned hotel-casino as providing “quality new hotel-casino and residential development in the Downtown area.” I dunno about you, but in my experience the nexus of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue is a heckuva long way from Downtown proper … barely within city limits, in fact.

Oscar to farmers: Drop dead! Although the local chapter of the Flat Earth Society has put down its quill pens long enough to jeer at a Scripps Institution of Oceanography study of falling water levels in Lake Mead, the study continues to gain traction in terms of public discourse.

Well, I’m not sure the latest from Mayor Oscar Goodman might be called “discourse,” but Hizzoner sure spoke his mind, as he is wont to do. With characteristic Goodmanesque tact, he proclaimed that “Imperial Valley farmers will have their fields go fallow before our spigots run dry.”

Needless to say, Hizzoner’s comments kicked up quite a ruckus in Southern California, roiling age-old tensions. Seems to me like all concerned would be better occupied coming up with proactive solutions (did anyone say “desalinization”?) than squabbling over a dwindling supply of water from the Colorado River, at least until the good Lord sees fit to replenish the snow packs and other sources of H2O that used to feed Lake Mead.

Posted in Downtown, The Strip | Comments Off on New condo tower slated for Strip

Clintons: 'Burn it down'; Save the Rio!

Posted on February 18, 2008 by David McKee

Well, actually that was the motto of Black Power activist Stokely Carmichael … but, in essence, that's the message coming out of the camp of Sen. Hillary Clinton, favored candidate of Harrah's Entertainment. I knew in my heart that the Clintons were willing to tear down the Democratic Party to get the presidential nomination, no matter how tarnished, but I never thought their surrogates would come out and say it. Shameful.

If you feel as I do, wash out that bad aftertaste with this.

Speaking of Harrah's, every day I walk by The Rio on my way to work. After four and a half months, I can't hold my tongue any longer: As swanky as it is on the inside, The Rio's exterior is looking like The Casino That Harrah's Forgot. Simply put, the paint is peeling. Not a flake here and there, but big, long strips all over the place, especially where that Jack Daniels wraparound billboard used to be.

We know that Harrah's is going to have to count its pennies, now that a leveraged buyout has left it with enough debt to choke the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Also, thanks to a series of reports by the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Joan Whitely, we've learned that maintenance hasn't been Job One at Harrah's lately. But would it wreck the balance sheet to go down to Ace Hardware, pick up a few cans of paint and touch up The Rio? (I exaggerate, but you get my point.)

Every so often, one rumor or another surfaces to the effect that Harrah's is trying to offload The Rio, whether to Boyd Gaming or George Maloof or whomever. These rumors may be more entertaining than true. Yet, a decade ago, it was Harrah's prize Vegas acquisition, the resort property that was going to entice regional players to cash in their Total Rewards points here. Now it looks like a red-headed stepchild.

It shouldn't be this way. The Rio still a great property with the most beautiful hotel tower in town … after dark, anyway.

Posted in Boyd Gaming, Election, Harrah's, The Strip | Comments Off on Clintons: 'Burn it down'; Save the Rio!

Columbia Sussex roundup

Posted on February 18, 2008 by David McKee

It’s difficult to figure out CEO William Yung III‘s endgame in his high-profile pursuit of a casino in Kentucky, as it could potentially further complicate the attempted sale of Casino Aztar in Evansville, Ind. So far, suitors have proven to be thin on the ground.

It actually might be in Yung’s best interest if the Kentucky state senate ashcans Gov. Steve Beshear‘s proposed casino legalization. After all, the closer Kentucky gets to casino gambling, the more it inherently depresses the value of Casino Aztar in an, um, watered-down market. There’s a reason Columbia Sussex was able to buy its Vicksburg casino for $28 million and re-sell it for $35 million: Ain’t no casinos coming to Arkansas now or in the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, the Tahoe Daily Tribune has an eyewitness report of the opening salvos in a lawsuit whereby Columbia Sussex seeks to hang onto its lease on Horizon Casino Resort. As in Atlantic City, the perceived failure to maintain a “first-class facility” is a central point of contention. To that end, landlord Park Cattle Co.‘s lawyers produced photos of Horizon that may be worth several thousand words (or dollars). Also, a former casino operations manager averred that Yung “was past trimming off the fat and had resorted to whacking at the bone.” (Sound familiar?)

There’s a possibility that the payroll hiccups at the Las Vegas Tropicana may have been caused by miscommunication between Columbia Sussex HQ, back in Kentucky, and local management. Hypothetically speaking, Friday’s payroll may have been handed on Wednesday, which might explain the “Don’t cash for 48 hours” scenario. If this is the case, an innocuous explanation from Columbia Sussex could have doused the fire. Instead, the company chose to get all shirty about the matter. God knows why.

If you need a laugh (or several), check out new Planet Hollywood headliner David Spade doing Daniel Plainview in “There Will Be Oscars.” It’s a riot. He drinks your milkshake!

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Indiana, Movies, The Strip | Comments Off on Columbia Sussex roundup

More trouble for LV Trop

Posted on February 15, 2008 by David McKee

Its popular “Bodies” exhibition has become the focus of an ABC News investigation, with reports airing both on Good Morning America and tonight’s edition of 20/20. Veteran reporter Brian Ross raises some very disturbing questions about the provenance of the cadavers used in the much-praised display, the handiwork of Premier Exhibition.

At least there’s a twofold silver lining for Tropicana owner Columbia Sussex: The exhibit is an inheritance from predecessor Aztar Corp. and, human nature being what it is, this newfound notoriety might make foot traffic at “Bodies” even heavier.

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Current, The Strip | Comments Off on More trouble for LV Trop

Case Bets for St. Valentine's Day

Posted on February 14, 2008 by David McKee

Liz Benston crunches the numbers on the much-touted "40,000 new rooms" and finds only two-thirds that many. I mean, 26.6K hotel rooms isn't shabby but, if you threw the numbers together the way civic boosters do (mixing completed projects with chimerical ones), you could arrive at double that number.

Speaking of chimeras, the giant arena-cum-casino project that REI Neon hopes to build where much of the downtown Arts District used to be has received yet another extension from Oscar Goodman. At $10.5 billion, REI Neon's project makes CityCenter look almost thrifty. REI has never executed anything remotely on this scale, hence the penumbra of skepticism that dogs the project.

Steve Wynn's tipping policies are earning a second look from Nevada Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek. Mind you, it's a narrow look, but it could be the wedge that pries open the door for additional legal challenges. Or not.

Equal time for Sheldon Adelson. In case you missed it, Two Way Hard Three (home of the best critiques of Palazzo) has the entire Power Point presentation from Las Vegas Sands' Investors Day, last Monday. Oh, and a complete Webcast, too. I feel so 20th century.

Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy year. Not only is the local prospect disturbing, but some of Vegas' and Reno's prime feeder markets are getting hit very hard, too.

More bad news for the thousands (from maids to casino managers) displaced by Hurricane Katrina. FEMA trailers may be contaminated. When are these people going to catch a break?

John McCain picks up the support of his most bitter rival. I don't think the Romney supporters are going to take this very well. They're a passionate bunch.

Darn it! We're not in first place anymore.

Posted in Detroit, Downtown, Election, Louisiana, Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn | Comments Off on Case Bets for St. Valentine's Day

That other Trop letter

Posted on February 14, 2008 by David McKee

S&G has obtained a copy of the 15-page complaint letter from the National Environmental Health Association to management of the Atlantic City Tropicana, alleging substandard conditions and service at the hotel-casino. Excerpts from this letter pretty much convicted the Tropicana and its owner, Columbia Sussex, in the court of public opinion. Trop execs, for their part, deemed the NEHA “scammers.” Read it and decide for yourself.

I’ll confine myself to two observations. One is that the tone of the letter is remarkably conciliatory in view of what it alleges.

Secondly, as much as the Trop takes a walloping herein, the NEHA complaint reflects just as badly — perhaps worse — on the work ethic and customer-service attitude of Trop employees, who include many members of Columbia Sussex detractor Unite HERE.

The Trop’s ownership has now paid the penalty for its mistakes. Those mistakes helped place the Trop at the forefront of Atlantic City properties that are currently experiencing a serious downturn. I said “helped.” Because Unite HERE clearly needs to take a look in the mirror and ask what part it played in this debacle.

Elsewhere … the legal wrangle between Park Cattle Co. and Columbia Sussex, who are suing each other up in Tahoe over the Horizon Lake Tahoe, has made the newspapers as far away as Houston. Based on the legal filings I’ve read, this Associated Press story encapsulates the entire conflict superbly in a mere six paragraphs.

Columbia Sussex is apparently having trouble scaring up potential buyers for its Casino Aztar riverboat, in Evansville, Ind.  There’s a slim ray of hope for Casino Aztar, in the form of racino exec Jim Brown, who knows the Ohio River market well. Then again, to quote my favorite Babylon 5 line, “I’ve never known hope when it wasn’t on a diet.”

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, Indiana | Comments Off on That other Trop letter

Another Baton Rouge bulletin

Posted on February 13, 2008 by David McKee

Columbia Sussex‘s mooted flip-flop of its Belle of Baton Rouge and Amelia Belle riverboats turns out not to have been a snap decision in the wake of a pro-Pinnacle Entertainment vote in Baton Rouge. Seems that the company has been laying the groundwork for two months now. Both St. Mary Parish and Louisiana regulators still have to sign off on the switch, which will also require some retrofitting of the Amelia Belle.

Although the Belle of Baton Rouge will be moving to a smaller market, Columbia Sussex promises city fathers in “the Morgan City area that employment will not be changed much with the boat switch.”

Now where have we heard that before? Oh yeah: Evansville, Atlantic City, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Las Vegas …

And although William Yung III‘s $7 million investment in a possible casino site in Covington, Ken., may seem like betting on the Raiders to win the next Super Bowl, when you’ve spent billions to acquire Aztar Corp., seven mil is just walking-around money.

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Louisiana, Pinnacle Entertainment | Comments Off on Another Baton Rouge bulletin

Big Love

Posted on February 12, 2008 by David McKee

Why does Mike Huckabee hate America? That’s one question posed in the ongoing fallout from Mitt Romney‘s bizarre equation between continuing his presidential campaign and abetting “surrender to terror”? Dangerous stuff, that democracy. It makes people vote for casinos and other things of which Mitt wouldn’t approve. (Neither would Huckabee, I might add.)

Huckabee, to his credit, is hanging tough and offering GOP voters a choice, not an echo. OK, it’s arguably a crazy choice, replete with scary buddies. But we’re Americans. We like having choices.

What’s lost in this, by the way, is the overweening narcissism of Romney’s remark. It’s not that we have to put aside our differences; no, it’s noble Mitt presenting himself as sacrificial victim — cynically hoping to ring up some chits for 2012 as the man who put the good of the country ahead of his own personal ambitions. When he’s actually acting in furtherance of those ambitions: “All right, so it’s not in the cards for me this year. What can I do to position myself as the Chosen One four years down the road? By jingo(ism), I think I’ve got it!’

At least Mitt can use the next four years to brush up on his speaking style. Dear Lord, the man is boring! Were he the GOP nominee, let alone elected, sales of Sominex would crater. Forget Ambien: Just tune C-SPAN to a Romney speech and it’s lights out, brother.

Yung’s embrace (slightly) rebuffed. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D) is scrambling to put distance between himself and the $1 million-plus that Columbia Sussex CEO William Yung III spent in furtherance of Beshear’s gubernatorial ambitions. Beshear is denying that Yung has an “inside track” on a Bluegrass State casino. That doesn’t change the fact that Yung received face time with Beshear’s casino task force while Las Vegas Sands got the door slammed in its face. (Turns out Yung got two face-to-face meetings with Beshear, as well.)

Beshear’s proposal would offer a preferential tax rate for Kentucky-based companies, a sweetheart provision that ought to be challenged in court. As for Beshear’s eventual legislative sock puppet, er, sponsor, Democratic pajandrums say he “hasn’t tee-totally been determined yet.” Nice to know that sobriety is part of their decision-making process.

Baton Rouge bulletin. Yung’s Columbia Sussex will swap its Belle of Baton Rouge and Amelia Belle riverboats, moving the larger Amelia-based vessel (which not so long ago served the New Orleans market) to Baton Rouge and vice versa. Despite rumblings that either Columbia Sussex or Penn National might cut and run if Pinnacle Entertainment got voted into the Baton Rouge market, it looks as though Columbia Sussex, for one, is dropping anchor and preparing to repel boarders.

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Election | Comments Off on Big Love

Polite Euphemism of the Week

Posted on February 12, 2008 by David McKee

" … the company [Columbia Sussex] lost its New Jersey gaming license in December when regulators questioned the company's stewardship of the Tropicana Atlantic City." — from a Las Vegas Review-Journal story on Pinnacle Entertainment's ballot box win in Baton Rouge.

Posted in Columbia Sussex | Comments Off on Polite Euphemism of the Week

Somedays, it sucks to be ‘ColSux’

Posted on February 11, 2008 by David McKee

“Northern Kentucky hotelier William Yung III may be gambling on Gov. Steve Beshear and Covington to save his crumbling casino empire.” Those are the words of the Lexington Herald-Leader, catching readers up on the quickly evolving troubles of Yung, CEO of Columbia Sussex (colloquially known online as ‘ColSux’).

The really interesting information comes near the bottom, where reporter Janet Patton chronicles the Flying Dutchman-like saga of the former Belle of Baton Rouge (now apparently destined for yet another relocation; see previous blog entry). She also reveals that Yung’s company is under investigation in Mississippi, pursuant to its eviction from New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Yung’s proposed Covington, Ky., casino has to overcome quite a few hurdles to become a reality. If Kentucky solons or voters ixnay casinos, it’s a moot point, never mind whether Continue reading →

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Current | Comments Off on Somedays, it sucks to be ‘ColSux’

Pinnacle wins in Baton Rouge

Posted on February 11, 2008 by David McKee

Backed by 56% of local voters, Pinnacle Entertainment has received the green light for its “Riviere” project in East Baton Rouge. No doubt this means some long faces at Penn National and Columbia Sussex, both of which mounted a full-bore effort aimed at keeping Pinnacle out. But voters weren’t swayed. Pinnacle’s promise to bear the cost of infrastructure burdens surely didn’t hurt, either.

At least one competitor isn’t taking this lying down. Columbia Sussex is reportedly mulling a plan to yank its Amelia Belle (formerly the Belle of New Orleans) from Amelia, La., and re-berth it in Baton Rouge, displacing the smaller Belle of Baton Rouge. As for what Columbia Sussex would do with its Amelia license, that remains to be seen.

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Louisiana, Pinnacle Entertainment | Comments Off on Pinnacle wins in Baton Rouge

A.C. Tropicana: let the bidding begin!

Posted on February 8, 2008 by David McKee

Justice Gary Stein, conservator of the Atlantic City Tropicana, has set Feb. 18 as the kickoff date for the formal bidding process. Although only two cash offers are on the table so far, Stein — with assistance of Bear Stearns — is preparing to walk two-dozen or more companies through the process, with the goal of having a deal in place by May 1.

This is almost certainly going to require a deadline extension from the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, which had provided a 120-day window for selling the casino, while it looks as though Stein will require anywhere from two weeks to months longer. Meanwhile, Trop President Mark Giannantonio, a Columbia Sussex holdover, says, "We're not looking to be mediocre in our service levels. We're looking to stand out." Of course, the Trop has been standing out of late, but not in a good way.

At least Atlantic City denizens are still passionate about their cats and birds, two groups doomed to forever be at odds … sort of like regulators and Columbia Sussex.

Speaking of which … a Liz Benston analysis piece explains why the Nevada Gaming Control Board has relatively few options if Columbia Sussex is found to be running the same kind of renegade casinos in Nevada that the NJCCC deemed it to be operating in Atlantic City.

The rubbery Scylla and Charybdis between which Columbia Sussex may find itself are the "foreign gaming" rule, a lightly enforced provision which calls upon the NGCB to look into regulatory infractions incurred by in jurisdictions other than Nevada.

Then there are the penalties that can be invoked if you "reflect discredit" upon Nevada. Based on video and audio evidence gathered by the Culinary Union, some of which I've seen, Columbia Sussex might have a real problem here.

In a separate piece (second item), Benston reveals that Columbia Sussex's bean counters at Lake Tahoe's Horizon Casino Resort (the one from which the landlord is trying to evict Columbia Sussex) had been writing out incorrect paychecks, ignorant of Nevada's overtime rules. Benston notes that the problem is widespread. However, Columbia Sussex has been renting the Horizon for almost 19 years. You'd think somebody would have twigged to this sooner.

This just in … the Monte Carlo will reopen on Feb. 15. At least 1,200 rooms and most amenities will be back on line, with the remaining retail and restaurants — plus 1,300 more rooms — expected to be ready for business a week later. The other 500 rooms will be experiencing what is diplomatically described as "an extensive redesign."

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, Monte Carlo fire | Comments Off on A.C. Tropicana: let the bidding begin!

Trop letter link fixed

Posted on February 8, 2008 by David McKee

For technical reasons too tedious to describe, the PDF of the Las Vegas Tropicana's letter to the Las Vegas Sun was unavailable to S&G readers. However, our hard-working and unsung IT staff has rectified the matter. My apologies for the delay and my thanks to the tech guys who make me look like I know what I'm doing.

Posted in Columbia Sussex | Comments Off on Trop letter link fixed

How many months …

Posted on February 7, 2008 by David McKee

… does it take to fix an escalator?

According to the Los Angeles Times‘ Vegas blogger, Richard Abowitz, there’s still a broken escalator at the Las Vegas Tropicana. I first read about this in the LVA forums weeks — weeks! — ago. It’s a free market and all that, but who in their right minds runs a Strip casino as though it were Nevada Palace (slated to close on Leap Day, so hurry up and visit if you haven’t been to the casino that time forget and the decades cannot improve)?

This isn’t Abowitz’s first bizarre experience with owners Columbia Sussex, the previous one having led him to dub the Trop “a warehouse with gambling.” He also noticed problems remarkably similar to those chronicled at the Sussex-ed Atlantic City Tropicana. There the damage control continues, including restoration of the much-depleted security force. With prospective owner Curtis Bashaw practically camped out on the A.C. Trop’s doorstep, at the nearby Chelsea Hotel, the big question is: When’s he going to make his much-bruited move? There are only two bids on the table right now, one from Colony Capital and a higher but somewhat more ephemeral-looking one from a mystery group.

The Trop speaks. S&G has obtained a copy of an unpublished letter to the editor of the Las Vegas Sun. It probably wasn’t published because it was sent out w/o a signature. Columbia Sussex spokesman Hud Englehart says, “That was not intentional, as I understand,” and says it was drafted by both Western Region Vice President of Hotel Operations Asaad Karam and regional veep of gaming ops Rick Yuhas.

For some reason, the letter was e-mailed to the Sun from the Vegas Trop, even though Karam is in Phoenix. A good thing it wasn’t snail-mailed, because it might still be in transit — given that it’s addressed to an office building the Sun hasn’t occupied in almost a decade.

Skydiving. Yes, skydiving. As in, the Significant Other wants to do it this weekend. My stomach tightens into a knot at the mere thought of leaping out of a plane. Does this make me a coward? Don’t everybody say “Yes” all at once, now.

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Current | Comments Off on How many months …