So is Herbst family hubris about to claim one or more victims in Primm? LVA sources report that perhaps 240 cars were there on a recent weekend, a sixth of them at Whiskey Pete’s, which wasn’t taking room bookings either — or seeing much play in the casino. Locks were seen being affixed to the front and back doors of Buffalo Bill’s and customers were told there would be a mass layoff on Nov. 22, followed by demolition of Whiskey Pete’s — an antediluvian hotel, it must be said — in January. If this scenario bears out, it will mark a tragic culmination of a series of events that began with Herbst Gaming grossly overpaying for the three borderline properties, a boneheaded business decision that accelerated the collapse of the company into receivership and the banishment of the Herbsts themselves.
In a fairness to current Herbst management, which maintains that everything is business as usual, much of its traffic seems to be reliant on bus-riding players from the San Fernando Valley and other coach markets. Also, it has a Nov. 27 Boyz II Men concert advertised on its Web site. The concert would take place at the Star of the Desert Arena, inside Buffalo Bill’s. Stay tuned for further developments.
Much of what seems to be reported sounds a little strange. Why would they be installing massive locks on the door now for a November closing? And why would they be telling customers of pending massive layoffs?
And if there was going to be, wouldn’t they already have to give the employees 60 days like the Plaza did? And would not that word quickly get out? We are inside the 60 day mark.
And why would Whiskey Pete’s be demolished? That seems pointless. It isn’t like they are going to knock it down to build a megaresort. It won’t cost that much to mothball (if they do). The age of the building has little to do with what future use they could find for it.
I have no insider knowledge (although must disclose they are an advertiser), but I wouldn’t be shocked to see them do a package deal with the XTrain (a Primm stop would add 5 minutes to the train’s schedule, no big deal). That would be a win-win because the XTrain will probably have seats to fill and Primm has rooms to fill.
Also, we don’t have a proper amusement park in Southern Nevada. If they could partner with someone to add more rides and a waterpark, they’d be a pretty good sell. Golf and gambling for dad, spa for mom, fun for kids. And they could probably draw a decent number of family day trippers if they brought the property too the level of “amusement park”.
Sounds crazy now, but think of all the crazy things people were going to build in Las Vegas before the economy tanked. Primm has the land (which is expensive in Las Vegas). They would just need a partner to finance it.
I think an amusement park or a waterpark (or both together) would be a great idea for Las Vegas. I mentioned on this blog awhile ago that the ideal place for a waterpark would be at the corner of Tropicana and Dean Martin Drive. Station Casinos owns over 100 acres of land there and they could afford to build a very nice amusement park/waterpark there.
Since I doubt Station Casinos would build something like that at Tropicana and Dean Martin Drive Herbst Gaming might want to take Mr. Newkirk’s advice and build an amusement park/waterpark out there. They have to try something different because Herbst Gaming is geographically challenged out there in Primm.
With the ongoing drought in the Southwest, and Lake Mead at record low levels, would the authorities give approval for a water park in Las Vegas or Primm; or would have access to a local source like an aquifer?