The Fontainebleau Las Vegas bankruptcy judge is pushing for a quick sale of the stalled, partially-completed $2.9 billion casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip. The judge ordered Fontainebleau attorneys to appear at a hearing next Wednesday.
The phrase “The Rat Pack,” referring to tribute shows to Frank Sinatra and his pals, is generic and isn’t subject to trademark protection, a Nevada federal judge has ruled. Ruling in a lawsuit pitting competing Rat Pack tribute show producers against each other, U.S. District Court Judge Lloyd George found Monday that one of the shows “cannot appropriate the term ‘The Rat Pack’ for its exclusive use.”
Difficulties facing the casino resort industry are reflected in Forbes' new list of the richest Americans, with MGM Mirage's Kirk Kerkorian seeing his ranking fall the most among top gaming titans.
A company planning to renovate and reopen a Las Vegas hotel on Paradise Road has sued bankrupt Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in hopes of blocking a foreclosure sale of the property. A/P Hotel LLC filed suit against Lehman Brothers on Tuesday in Clark County District Court.
On the eve of a hearing in Reno in its bankruptcy case, a dispute emerged Tuesday on whether creditors can extensively investigate the 2007 deal that took Station Casinos Inc. of Las Vegas private.
Poker tournament organizer Hall of Fame World Poker Championship LLC was sued by the owner of the Venetian resort in Las Vegas on Monday over an allegedly unpaid invoice.
Local prices fall further than any other market in the 20-city report
Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009
The foreclosure-heavy Las Vegas housing market led the nation in price declines in July in a widely-watched report issued today covering 20 big-city markets. New York debt-rating company Standard & Poor's issued its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices. The report found prices in the 20 cities declined 13.3 percent in July compared to July 2008; and that overall they rose 1.6 percent from June to July.
Station Casinos Inc. of Las Vegas wants a lawsuit over employee wages to be put on hold, saying it's entitled to some "breathing room" from such litigation during its bankruptcy proceedings.
Company responds to minority lenders' request for investigation of finances
Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009
Station Casinos Inc. is fighting a motion that an examiner be appointed to investigate its financial operations. The company on Friday filed a response in U.S. Bankruptcy Court to a motion by a group of minority lenders that an examiner with wide-ranging investigatory authority be appointed.
Key lenders file motion urging case be converted to Chapter 7 bankruptcy
Friday, Sept. 25, 2009
A key group of lenders to the stalled Fontainebleau resort has lost confidence that the $2.9 billion project can be revived through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, and moved Friday that the project be converted to a Chapter 7 liquidation.
A group of 18 homebuyers and the Laborers International Union of North America charged Thursday in Las Vegas that Pulte Homes Corp. and other builders harmed buyers during the housing boom by inducing them into purchasing homes at inflated values and with unaffordable mortgages.
A study commissioned by Station Casinos Inc. has found the company's $5.7 billion going-private transaction in 2007 was fair and reasonable at the time and didn't include fraudulent or inequitable provisions. The report, filed in Station's bankruptcy case Tuesday, will likely be used by the company to fend off requests by certain creditors that the deal be further examined.
Nonprofit sponsor says license can't be transferred after bankruptcy
Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009
The nonprofit sponsor of Herbst Gaming Inc.'s casino license in Iowa is objecting to Herbst's plan to emerge from bankruptcy, with the sponsor saying it hasn't consented to a deal in which lenders will obtain control of the company.
The developer of the Park Highlands planned community in North Las Vegas has reached settlements with two parties that had objected to its plan to exit from bankruptcy.
Wynn Resorts Ltd. filed paperwork Monday confirming reports it has increased the size of its initial public stock offering for a stake in its Chinese gaming operations. Observers have said investors are eager to buy the shares, prompting Wynn to boost the size of the offering.
Shopping center includes operating Wal-Mart and Sunflower Market stores
Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009
A big Tropicana Avenue shopping center is among the latest casualties in Southern Nevada's commercial real estate slowdown. Lenders are foreclosing on the Tropicana Center and the adjacent Pecos Plaza and are seeking appointment of a receiver to run the strip mall until the property is sold at auction.
The massive but stalled Park Highlands residential development in North Las Vegas says it's gained concessions from lenders and is ready to emerge from bankruptcy. Park Highlands says secured lenders holding a majority of its debt have agreed to the concessions in the Chapter 11 reorganization case, and that unsecured creditors owed about $1.6 million would be paid within two months of plan confirmation.
The bankrupt Fontainebleau Las Vegas casino-resort development has quietly dropped its allegation that Deutsche Bank has been working to undermine Fontainebleau in order to protect the bank's interest in a competing hotel-casino.
With investors generally reluctant to participate in its outstanding note-exchange offer, MGM Mirage today revised the deal again and announced a separate debt-placement arrangement.
MGM Mirage today warned it may take a charge against earnings to write down the value of its 50-percent interest in the $8.5 billion CityCenter complex preparing to open in December on the Las Vegas Strip. At least part of the writedown may be related to the company's need to lower condominium prices at the resort in order to close sales of the condos. There are some 2,400 condominium and condominium-hotel units in multiple towers at the resort.
At least one unidentified potential buyer is negotiating to take over the bankrupt Fontainebleau hotel-casino development. But significant hurdles remain for the resort to be sold and its construction completed. But significant hurdles remain for the resort to be sold and its construction completed, including difficulties a buyer may have in obtaining financing. Stung by substantial losses on Las Vegas casino and real estate deals, banks and investors have been wary about investing in Las Vegas during the recession -- especially with a growing over-supply of hotel rooms on and around the Las Vegas Strip.
With the Las Vegas Fontainebleau resort bankruptcy case seemingly stalled, a group of contractors is seeking permission to pursue construction lien claims in state court in Nevada -- outside of the bankruptcy process. The contractors, in a court filing Friday, said they want to get started protecting their lien claims in state court in part because those claims are under attack by lenders in the bankruptcy court.
Corus Bank, known as the nation's poster child for aggressive condominium development lending during the economic boom, was closed and seized by regulators Friday due to mounting losses.
Wynn Resorts Ltd.'s plan for a stock offering involving its Asian hotel and gaming operations advanced Friday, with Wynn filing a disclosure statement detailing financial results and development plans for the Chinese gambling district of Macau.
With bondholders apparently in no rush to participate in an MGM Mirage debt-exchange deal, the Las Vegas casino-resort company on Friday sweetened the offer.
Company says it will move forward with proposal involving senior lenders
Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009
Herbst Gaming Inc.'s plan to emerge from bankruptcy is facing stiff resistance from key creditors and lenders owed hundreds of millions of dollars. Herbst is pressing forward with a proposal to emerge from bankruptcy.
Residential foreclosure activity declined last month in Nevada and Las Vegas -- but these markets continued to lead the nation in RealtyTrac's foreclosure lists. Reno joined Las Vegas on the list of the 10 U.S. cities.
Global Consumer Acquisition Corp., the company working to buy small banks in Nevada, today announced its latest deal: The acquisition of Service1st Bank of Nevada.
Proposal calls for housing that's more affordable; former owners want plan tossed
Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009
The Lake Las Vegas development on Friday proposed a plan to emerge from its $728 million bankruptcy case -- a plan in which further development of the high-end community would include more affordable housing.
Minority lenders in the Station Casinos Inc. bankruptcy case asserted new allegations Tuesday, charging conflicts of interest and asking why Station continues to reject Boyd Gaming Corp.'s bid to buy certain assets.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. announced Wednesday plans to take on up to $600 million of debt that it can convert into equity once it completes a public stock offering on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company said the bond offering would improve its liquidity position.
One month before his financial empire was shut down by regulators, Texas billionaire Robert Allen Stanford was running up a quarter-million-dollar gambling debt in Las Vegas, a lawsuit filed by a casino shows. The Bellagio resort on the Las Vegas Strip sued Stanford in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas on Tuesday, claiming he owes $258,480 in unpaid gambling markers.
A key portion of a plan to spend cash by Station Casinos Inc. during its bankruptcy proceedings won't be decided at a hearing Wednesday, so parties have more time to assess, adjust and reply to the complex proposal.
A Las Vegas company that books hotel rooms and sells vacation packages online has filed for bankruptcy reorganization in a case involving numerous Southern Nevada hotel-casinos.
Shopping mall owner and real estate developer General Growth Properties Inc. has reported 2008 and early 2009 financial results for its Las Vegas properties -- results showing mixed business trends as the recession widened.
Las Vegas success seminar trainer and hypnotist Marshall Sylver has withdrawn his lawsuit against a bank over real estate loans and is attempting to resolve the dispute out of court, his attorney said Saturday.
Las Vegas success seminar trainer and hypnotist Marshall Sylver says he thought he was getting a good deal on two real estate loans in 2008. But Sylver says that, unforeseen by him, the bank defrauded him with loans that he's now struggling to pay.
The parent company of the failed Community Bank of Nevada said Friday it intends to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in the near future. On Aug. 14, regulators closed Community Bank of Nevada.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sheldon Adelson is suing a house-building contractor, claiming mold has been growing in one of his luxury homes because of construction defects.
A group of creditors in the Station Casinos Inc. bankruptcy case revealed Wednesday it's investigating the 2007 deal in which the Las Vegas company was taken private -- a deal the creditors say involved questionable terms that now threaten recovery of funds by the creditors.
Attorneys for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors made the revelation in a motion objecting to plans by Station and some of its bank lenders to spend cash during the bankruptcy process.
Australia's Crown Ltd. posted further losses Thursday because of its U.S. gaming investments, this time writing off most of the value of its interest in Cannery Casino Resorts LLC of Las Vegas. Crown reported a loss for the year ended in June of $1.197 billion (Australian) vs. a profit one year earlier of A$3.546 billion. In the six months ended in June it lost A$788 million (U.S. $651 million.)
The bankrupt Fontainebleau resort suffered a legal defeat Wednesday when a judge ruled in favor of banks it is suing on a key legal question. He ruled the banks, not Fontainebleau, are correct in their interpretation of a key lending contract.
A good-news, bad-news report is out on the Nevada economy -- this one concerning credit card delinquency rates. TransUnion.com of Chicago reported that the credit card delinquency rate in Nevada in the second quarter was down.
MGM Mirage on Tuesday issued its first formal response to an Aug. 19 shareholder lawsuit alleging the company and current and former officers misled shareholders about its financial prospects.
Decline in line with two other slot makers affected by lower sales to casinos
Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009
Slot machine maker Aristocrat Leisure Ltd. on Tuesday reported revenue and profit declines in the North American market during the first half of 2009, citing "difficult economic and gaming market conditions.''
The new Case-Shiller Home Price Indices issued Tuesday show the Las Vegas real estate market continues to underperform the national market. Home prices overall rose in June in 20 big-city markets covered by the report, except in Las Vegas and Detroit.