{"id":6597,"date":"2013-12-02T15:34:24","date_gmt":"2013-12-02T15:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2013\/12\/02\/old-downtown-vegas-hotel-owners-ask-to-keep-gaming-licence\/"},"modified":"2013-12-02T15:34:24","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T15:34:24","slug":"old-downtown-vegas-hotel-owners-ask-to-keep-gaming-licence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2013\/12\/02\/old-downtown-vegas-hotel-owners-ask-to-keep-gaming-licence\/","title":{"rendered":"Old Downtown Vegas hotel owners ask to keep gaming licence"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"\"
\n\tThe owner of the former Western Hotel on Fremont Street, wants to keep gambling land use rights as it ponders redevelopment. (John Locher\/Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\tBy BENJAMIN SPILLMAN
\n\tLAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
\n\tThe owner of the former Western Hotel on Fremont Street is looking to preserve the right to offer gambling on the site, but it\u2019s not shopping for roulette wheels and gaudy carpeting just yet.<\/p>\n

\tThe Las Vegas City Council will consider a request from Fifth Street Gaming to extend the gambling land use rights at 899 Fremont St. until February 2015.<\/p>\n

\tThe owner of the site needs more time, the application states, because \u201cthe lingering effects of the severe economic downturn\u201d on downtown means improved business activity must occur \u201cbefore redeveloping the Western is economically feasible or it can be leased.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIt wants the gambling land use rights to remain in place because it\u2019s \u201cconsidering the option of developing it into a new nonrestricted gaming establishment,\u201d the applicant\u2019s attorney stated in a letter to the city.<\/p>\n

\tFormer Western owner Tamares closed the property in January 2012. In March, Tamares sold the property to an entity connected to the Downtown Project, the $350 million urban renewal effort backed by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.<\/p>\n

\tThe application lists 899 Fremont LLC as the property owner with Andrew Donner, a developer and real estate partner for Downtown Project, as the contact. Fifth Street Gaming, the company that manages the recently opened Downtown Grand for CIM Group, is the listed applicant.<\/p>\n

\tBoth Hsieh and Donner said there are no immediate plans to develop the property as a casino, despite the request before the City Council.<\/p>\n

\tDonner said they\u2019re \u201cconsidering all options and looking at all proposals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe Western, a longtime downmarket casino known for cheap booze and gambling, is in the heart of an area Downtown Project is seeking to revive.<\/p>\n

\tIt\u2019s just east of Container Park, a Downtown Project-funded retail and entertainment center, and west of the renovated and reopened Atomic Liquors tavern.<\/p>\n

\tSo far the Downtown Project has focused real estate development efforts on trendy bars and restaurants and creating co-working space for technology entrepreneurs and has shied away from gambling.<\/p>\n

\tAfter it acquired the Gold Spike casino earlier this year, the Downtown Project removed the gambling and used the former casino floor as a lounge and co-working space, but it has maintained the land-use entitlement for a casino.<\/p>\n

\tDennis Gutwald, an attorney for Fifth Street Gaming, said many old casinos were built before land use restrictions such as distance buffers were put in place.<\/p>\n

\tFor example, a new tavern use at the location would require a 1,500-foot distance separation from any churches, synagogues or liquor establishments. And Gutwald said a casino development created under modern land use restrictions would require a resort, which requires hundreds of hotel rooms and other amenities.<\/p>\n

\tRetaining the entitlements is important even if there are no plans for a casino to preserve as many options as possible for future development, he said.<\/p>\n

\tEven though Downtown Project and others have spent tens of millions of dollars on development in the downtown area in recent years Gutwald said that doesn\u2019t mean it would be prudent to rush to redevelop the Western.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt is not like you can just add a ton of development downtown all at once and it is going to be absorbed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\tCouncilman Bob Coffin, who represents the area, said he doesn\u2019t expect the extension request to run into much resistance from City Hall.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cSince it is gaming now, you wouldn\u2019t want to give up that entitlement,\u201d Coffin said.<\/p>\n

\tContact Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com<\/a> and follow him on Twitter at @BenSpillman702<\/p>\n

\n

Replies:<\/h3>\n
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Posted by:<\/strong> TommyC on December 3, 2013, 3:01 pm<\/p>\n

If I had a license I would not let it go either<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The owner of the former Western Hotel on Fremont Street, wants to keep gambling land use rights as it ponders redevelopment. (John Locher\/Las Vegas Review-Journal By BENJAMIN SPILLMAN LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL The owner of the former Western Hotel on Fremont…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}