ZZZ - GMG - VEGAS INC 2011-2014

VEGAS INC C OV E R STO RY S INC FILE the $50 ed with ned its an 400 eatures Bay in ing the orting a unt to a d it still several n a new casino nsform into an n Linq d by the lso will tomers s to be . "They red and UNLV lt more DREAMS DASHED: Lake Las Vegas appeared to be making a comeback but was dealt another blow when Casino MonteLago closed in October. The owner said he encountered lease issues that forced the shutdown. Lake Las Vegas Bad year The Riviera Poor Riviera. In under a year, the historic resort lost almost its entire management staff, ending a bitter chapter in the property's history. In late June, CEO Andy Choy was fired. Senior Vice President of Gaming Noah Acres resigned the same day. Their exits followed several other top-level resignations, including CFO Larry King, Senior Vice President of Operations Bobby Ray Harris and Director of Security and Surveillance Doug Poppa. Staff from Paragon Gaming, a local gaming development company headed by Diana Bennett, replaced Choy and Acres. Since the Riviera opened in 1955, owners have filed for bankruptcy three times: in 1985, 1991 and 2010. The company emerged from the latest round in November 2010. | 23 DECEMBER 2013 20131223_VI01_F.indd 15 VEGAS INC FILE | tribe. The 3,600-acre Lake Las Vegas community, off of Lake Mead Parkway in Henderson, was designed as an elegant Mediterranean village surrounding a 320-acre man-made lake. It became one of the biggest real estate flops in the valley, enduring foreclosure, bankruptcy and big drops in tourism. The project, however, had been showing signs of improvement this year. Home prices were on the upswing, hotel occupancy was inching higher, and new tenants joined the retail district. Wall Street billionaire John Paulson's investment firm also bought at least 900 acres of land there, with plans to sell it to homebuilders. Stadium developers unheard of, as they're almost impossible to finance, but the Henderson City Council unanimously approved a preliminary project agreement with Milam's group and fully supported selling the 485-acre, federally owned project site. In the end, Milam never took ownership of the land and didn't build a thing. No teams committed to moving to the planned complex, the financing fell through, and Henderson sued Milam's group for allegedly trying to flip the project site to other developers. As part of a March court settlement, Milam was banned from doing business in Henderson. Meanwhile, Southern California developer Majestic Realty Just when it seemed like Lake Las Vegas was mounting a comeback, the lavish, financially plagued project was dealt another blow. Casino MonteLago, the community's only casino, was shut down in late October for the second time in 3 1/2 years. Owner Jon Berkley, CEO of Intrepid Gaming, said he closed shop due to "lease issues" with landlord Kam Sang Co. The small casino opened in May 2003, closed in March 2010 during the recession and reopened in May 2011 to throngs of gamblers. It originally was owned by Cook Inlet Region Inc., a company owned by members of an Alaskan American Indian It also was a rough year for aspiring sports arena developers. One was sued for fraud and barred from doing business in Henderson, while another threw in the towel after losing a partnership with UNLV. Texas developer Chris Milam didn't have any teams lined up to play in the valley but sought to build an indoor arena and three stadiums south of the M Resort in Henderson. His Las Vegas National Sports Complex was expected to cost more than $1 billion to build. Speculative, multi-venue developments are practically 15 12/19/13 3:53:18 PM

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