Straub’s time runs short; Smoke gets in Macao’s eyes

Glenn Straub may be $10 million the poorer after yet another deal for Revel has come apart at the seams. Straub wanted to expunge any obligations to Revel tenants. Federal courts would not let him. And, upon that impasse, the hourglass ran out on Straub’s deal with Revel. As casino attorney Michael Viscount said, “We need to come up with a Plan C really quickly.” A hearing will be held tomorrow morning on whether Straub can extend the sale’s expiration to Feb. 28. Just the thought of Revel hanging on to Straub’s $10 million deposit was enough to work attorney Stuart Moskowitz into his usual dander: “If Revel terminates this contract, it will cost them tens of millions of dollars. They will never get a bid at these numbers. From Day One, Revel was a disaster, in every way imaginable.” As for the uncertain status of the tenants, Moskowitz fumed, “We can’t close if we have no idea what we’re closing on.”

Meanwhile, Hard Rock International is hovering on the fringes of the deal, not as a potential buyer but more likely as Straub’s operating partner (although two other potential buyers are rumored to be on the horizon). A massive monkey wrench was thrown into the deal when the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of nightclub owner IDEA and Revel’s standalone power plant, neither of which wanted to see their prerogatives as tenants swept away by Straub. The latter may be willing to invest a half-billion into Atlantic City but his grand vision is coming undone over nickels and dimes. Liquidation of the property is still not out of the question.

* Harrah’s Entertainment was doing well back when it was making strategic, incremental acquisitions. Then Gary Loveman decided to devour the gaming industry and everything went to hell. David G. Schwartz offers an apologia pro vita Loveman as the latter hands off Caesars Entertainment Operating Co., but otherwise largely remains in place.

* Someone who altered Las Vegas in a considerably more positive way, architect John Jerde, passed away over the weekend. Jerde’s two signature projects — Fremont Street Experience and Bellagio — broke the mold for what was considered conventional entertainment in this town. Nearly two decades after it was built, Bellagio still sets the mark for high-quality, mass-market casino entertainment. And the Fremont Street Experience has turned what was a string of balkanized casinos into a vast, al fresco promenade, dominated by a light show, zip lines and God knows whatever else they’ll think up for it. Newsweek once designated Jerde “Designer of the Decade” and they’ll get no argument here.

* 2016 has been pegged as the year in which Macao recovers, with multiple new megaresorts coming on line. However, a proposed smoking ban could throw a big damper over that comeback. VIP play, the backbone of Macao, is estimated to go down 15%. Consider that 2014 was a deemed a bad year for Macao and VIP revenue was off ‘only’ 11%.