The Plaza’s $56 million question

Back in 2005, Mayor Oscar Goodman told a reporter — that’d be me — with “a local business publication,” formerly known as the Las Vegas Business Press — that he hoped to see the Plaza Hotel imploded to make room for a grand gateway to what would eventually become known as Symphony Park. Hizzoner has given up on uniting Symphony Park with Fremont Street after hearing from Tamares U.S. Real Estate that the Plaza would be getting a $20 million rehabilitation.

What Goodman — who looks back on his tenure as a Sisyphean labor — may not have been told by Tamares was that the Plaza was scheduled to be sold in a foreclosure auction on Sept. 1. iStar Financial and SFT I have filed a “Notice of Trustee’s Sale” through First American Title Co. According to the notice, iStar and its partner are owed $56,189,714 (oh, and 40 cents) by one of Tamares’ innumerable shell companies. To that end, they sought to auction the Plaza and all its “personal property.” S&G spoke with a staffer at First American who said the document hasn’t been recorded and the auction has been postponed until Oct. 1. (A further month-long extension is possible.)

A call to Tamares U.S. Real Estate COO Kenneth Landfield went unreturned and an e-mail to incoming casino manager Anthony F. Santo has yet to yield a response. The relevant iStar executive, David Sotolov, is out of town until next week. One theory making the rounds is that the terms of the loan have been — or perhaps are in the process of being — renegotiated. Tamares is putting up a good front, giving The Rat Pack is Back! a three-year contract earlier this week. Still, you have to wonder if Santo knew the depth of the doo-doo Tamares is in when he signed aboard.

And Mr. Mayor, if you still covet the Plaza site, just go to the foyer of Nevada Legal News, 930 S. Fourth St., on Oct. 1. Maybe you can come away with a bargain.

On the subject of the Business Press, it’s official that Editor Matt Ward is leaving to take the helm of the Pahrump Valley Times. A most felicitous pickup for the LVBP, Ward was the best person we could have found to inherit the bulk of the casino beat and our faith in him was vindicated when he was named Outstanding Journalist of 2007 by the Nevada Press Association. Since the Business Press is now a toothless tiger and a shadow of its former self, Ward will doubtless find considerably more gratifying challenges out in Nye County, which makes up in legal brothels what it may lack in gambling.