{"id":14454,"date":"2014-09-02T11:52:08","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T19:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=14454"},"modified":"2014-09-02T11:52:08","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T19:52:08","slug":"archon-under-fire-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/archon-under-fire-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Archon under fire again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sue Lowden<\/strong> is back in the news, not for her political activities but as secretary\u00a0and public face of Archon Gaming<\/strong>, whose 27 acres atop <\/a>\"Sue<\/a>the Strip<\/a> are a hot property again, following the opening of SLS Las Vegas<\/strong>. Dissident investor and frequent thorn in the Lowdens’ side Esplanade Capital<\/strong> has made a purchase that ought to be the dream of a lifetime for an Archon shareholder: $21.65 a share — a 21% premium<\/a>. That’s a fat price for Archon’s slim portfolio of assets, headlined by flagship\u00a0Pioneer Hotel & Gambling Hall<\/strong> in Laughlin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Taking its offer public, Esplanade\u00a0fired off an open letter to the Lowdens. “\u00a0I was afforded the opportunity to speak with the Board of Directors …\u00a0and reiterate our view that the Company should publicly commit to a sales process with a level playing field.\u00a0While disappointed, I am not surprised that this demand and my follow-up since have been rebuffed,” writes Esplanade President Shawn W. Kravetz<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"All<\/a>“In 2007 during the last land-grab for Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> real estate, the Company squandered a golden opportunity by failing to close the sale of its Las Vegas property at record prices.\u00a0We now understand from public records that the Company is planning to develop a mixed use arena on its land.\u00a0The more we learn about this questionable project<\/a>, the more we fear that the Company is marching down the same worrisome path it pursued in 2007,” Kravetz continue<\/a>s. “There are bona fide deals being executed and once again the Company appears to be eschewing a good, concrete deal in favor of an unproven and uncertain development opportunity.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Concludes Kravetz, “We continue to view the Company’s stock as undervalued.\u00a0Unfortunately, we have no confidence that the situation will improve under the existing Board and management.\u00a0We believe that the Company seems to be run as the personal fiefdom of Mr. Paul Lowden<\/strong> …\u00a0We remind the Board that it has fiduciary duties to all shareholders and not just to Paul Lowden and his family.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Esplanade says it has access to development capital through a web\u00a0of unspecified debt and equity financiers. It adds that it expects to close the transaction in tandem with an anonymous real estate firm with whom it has “a longtime outside relationship.” Judging by the history of the Archon\/Esplanade relationship — and barring a shareholder uprising — Archon’s response is likely to be a deafening silence.<\/span><\/p>\n

* The economic benefits of being near a casino are felt in Columbus<\/strong>, Ohio<\/strong>, were Hollywood Casino<\/strong> is having a ripple effect on the surrounding community. “[A]\u00a0forgotten, blighted area once deemed the emptiest neighborhood<\/a>\u00a0in America,” the West Side of Columbus now \"Columbus<\/a>boasts a McDonald\u2019s<\/strong>, Big Lots<\/strong>, Value City Furniture<\/strong> and U-Haul Super Center<\/strong>, along with a new iteration of TeeJay’s Country Place<\/strong>. Trails and a 47-acre park are slated to follow. Two car dealerships have been rehabbed, with one opening a side business in RVs.<\/span><\/p>\n

One could go on and but we get the point that, as Hollywood Plaz<\/strong>a Managing Partner Tom Heilman<\/strong> says,\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s the cycle of real estate, and this area is improving. It means better tenants with more disposable income.” Adds Romney Group<\/strong>‘s director of acquisitions, Anthon Stauffer<\/strong>, \u201cYes, the casino being there influenced our decision.\u00a0We spent a lot of time researching the history of the West Side, and having a big employer on the other side of [Georgesville Road<\/strong>] makes a big difference.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Score one for the industry and for owner Penn National Gaming<\/strong> in particular.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sue Lowden is back in the news, not for her political activities but as secretary\u00a0and public face of Archon Gaming, whose 27 acres atop the Strip are a hot property again, following the opening of SLS Las Vegas. Dissident investor … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[46,14,49,71,69,162,9,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14454"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14457,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14454\/revisions\/14457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}