{"id":9659,"date":"2012-09-20T11:59:31","date_gmt":"2012-09-20T19:59:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=9659"},"modified":"2012-09-20T12:27:04","modified_gmt":"2012-09-20T20:27:04","slug":"western-sold-loveman-takes-a-bath-loving-couples-at-the-flamingo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/western-sold-loveman-takes-a-bath-loving-couples-at-the-flamingo\/","title":{"rendered":"Western … sold?; Loveman takes a bath; Loving couples at the Flamingo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Update<\/strong>: The head of Tamares Group’s Vegas casino operations, Anthony Santo<\/strong>, has contacted<\/em> S&G. He categorically denies that any sale of the Western has taken place<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Well, “the Internets” are jumping today with the rumor that the defunct Western Hotel<\/strong> Casino<\/strong>, most recent victim of absentee Tamares Group<\/strong>, has been sold. Zappos.com<\/strong> has been tipped as the likely buyer. We shall see. The Western occupies an entire city block, which would be space enough for a big-box grocery store … one of Mayor Carolyn Goodman<\/strong>‘s high-priority items on her wish list. Since the Western sits adjacent to the empty space once occupied by Tamares’ Ambassador East Motel<\/strong>, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a multi-block transaction were in the works.<\/p>\n

Since Downtown living at former condos like the Ogden<\/strong> has become affordable, the El Cortez <\/strong>is now regarded as one of the leading Downtown casinos and Fremont East<\/strong> continues to grow into a must-see spot (bolstered by popular eateries like Le Thai<\/strong><\/a>), the circumstances are reaching critical mass for mass-appeal retail on urban Vegas’ eastern flank.<\/p>\n

\"\"Back when the real estate market<\/strong> was at its go-go zenith, one of my sources told me that Harrah’s Entertainment<\/strong> was paying top dollar for land on Koval Lane<\/strong>, two blocks off the Strip. Indeed, property-record searches show that the Desert Club<\/strong> apartment complex was purchased in 2006 by an innocuously named LLC that just happened<\/em> to be headquartered at One Harrah’s Court<\/strong>. The $164.4 million buy (a relatively thrifty $8.4 million\/acre) gave then-Harrah’s Entertainment<\/strong> land stretching all the way to the western boundary of the Hughes Center<\/strong> … which, ironically, happens to be the site of Boyd Gaming<\/strong>‘s corporate HQ.<\/p>\n

This also provided Gary Loveman<\/strong> with much beachfront property along the fragrant shores of the Flamingo Wash<\/strong>. Perhaps he envisioned gondoliers plying \"\"its less-than-salubrious waters, warbling odes to “Epicentre<\/strong>.” Who knows? After going dark for a long time, Desert Court has been resurrected as Holiday Inn Club Vacations at Desert Club Resort<\/strong>. (Uff da<\/em>!) It had been quietly offloaded in August 2011 for a priced-to-move $29.4 million ($1.5 million\/acre) — an 82% markdown. With business acumen like that running rampant in the executive suite is it any wonder that Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> is fast turning the pages toward Chapter 11?<\/p>\n

Putting the ‘Q’ in “Quad.”<\/strong> Voters in Nevada<\/strong> foolishly voted themselves out of the gay-marriage fiscal jackpot … twice. However,\u00a0 if you’re willing to settle for a \"\"“commitment ceremony,” Caesars will do the honors for you — for $349 — at both Imperial Palace<\/strong> — hey, isn’t that “The Quad<\/strong>“? — chapels, including the Skyline<\/strong>, redone in signature, Ralph Engelstad<\/strong> blue-and-white hues<\/a>. At the Flamingo Las Vegas<\/strong>, you and your partner have the choice of five venues, even the pool and garden areas.<\/p>\n

Later, you can visit the pair of brown pelicans adopted by Flamingo management \"\"after the duo got enmeshed in fishing nets and rendered flightless as a result. Rescued by the Pacific Wildlife Project<\/strong>, the couple was quickly dubbed “Busy” and “Virginia” by Flamingo employees for reasons which should be obvious — particularly to those who suffered through the sappy 1991 epic Bugsy<\/em><\/a>. The old penguin habitat has been dusted off and chilled to a more pelican-friendly 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit. You can catch the plucky couple at 8:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. The Wildlife Habitat<\/strong> at the Flamingo may be Caesars’ single best Vegas attraction<\/a>: colorful, exotic, heartwarming and — not to be gainsaid — free. So two cheers for Caesars today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Update: The head of Tamares Group’s Vegas casino operations, Anthony Santo, has contacted S&G. He categorically denies that any sale of the Western has taken place. Well, “the Internets” are jumping today with the rumor that the defunct Western Hotel … 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":[98,60,28,18,51,14,4,117,7,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9659"}],"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=9659"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9665,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9659\/revisions\/9665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}