Here is more of the story from the Las Vegas Sun:

Station said the $772 million bid is to purchase the OpCo assets of the company, in addition to the PropCo properties. These additional assets include Santa Fe Station, Texas Station, Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho and Indian gaming projects.

The company didn’t immediately say whether the $772 million bid would include Station’s joint ventures with the Greenspun family, owner of the Las Vegas Sun. These include Green Valley Ranch resort in Henderson and Aliante Station in North Las Vegas. A Greenspun affiliate in a separate bankruptcy case is trying to replace Station as manager of Green Valley Ranch, charging mismanagement there. Station has denied those allegations.

“We are pleased to have reached agreement with the steering committee of the Opco senior lenders on the acceptance of our stalking-horse bid and our plan of reorganization. This agreement is another important step toward maximizing the value of all of the Station Casinos’ properties for the benefit of our team members, guests, lenders and the Las Vegas community,” said Frank Fertitta III, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Station Casinos.

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Las Vegas, Economy, Casinos, Debt Reorganization

Here is more of the story from the AP:

Cosmopolitan CEO John Unwin said the hotel’s amenities, including 13 restaurants, a spa, nightclub, 150,000 square feet of meeting and convention space and retail stores, would open in mid-December with the casino and the bulk of its 2,995 rooms. The resort is going for approachable elegance, Unwin said, with all the offerings of larger resorts presented on 8.7 acres, meaning shorter distances between the Cosmopolitan’s features compared with other hotels.

“I think this really changes how a major casino-resort in Las Vegas is set up,” Unwin told The Associated Press. “It’s still big, but it’s not 15 minutes in terms of getting around the casino.”

Unwin, a former general manager for the 85-acre Caesars Palace who began leading the Cosmopolitan in October, told the AP that its decision to phase in about 1,000 rooms a few months after the casino opens has been in place about one year, to give more time to move furniture and finish interior work.

He said the resort’s construction is fully funded and plans are firm to have all of Cosmopolitan’s rooms open by July.

The biggest rise is in accommodations at 14.0%. This actually looks good for Nevada’s tourism, as it means more money was spent on hotels than last year. This does look like the sign of some recovery in the tourism and travel industry, even if the reports are saying that the recovery is going to be slow.
Two other areas that have increased are furniture and furnishings sales and clothing and accessories sales. They have risen 6.9% and 5.0%, respectively. Merchants are reporting that they are seeing an increase in sales, but shoppers are still wary about making the big purchases, as they are going more towards the smaller purchases.

Two areas that have declined are auto sales and food and beverage store sales. These in addition to construction sales have been the worst hit for the past two years. There are expectations that taxable sales will stutter between growth and decline before showing gains over time.

There have been comparisons of the state of Nevada’s (as well as the rest of the country’s) economy to a “tortoise rally”. Nevada’s will actually be slower than the rest considering most of the economy is dependent on the leisure and hospitality sector, which really depends on the economy of the other states.

Boyd Gaming Corp. of Las Vegas narrowed its fourth quarter loss even as revenue fell across the board as the slow economy reduced spending at its hotels and casinos around the country.

Boyd said today it lost $1 million, or 1 cent per share, during the fourth quarter of 2009, compared to a loss in 2008′s fourth quarter of $220.8 million, or $2.51 per share. Net revenue fell from $422.6 million to $384.9 million during the year-over-year period.

During a conference call with investors and analysts today, Boyd executives reaffirmed the company’s commitment to acquiring Station Casinos’ assets and discussed the company’s view of the current condition of the Las Vegas locals market.

“During the fourth quarter, the economy continued to be weak, unemployment remained high and consumers continued to be cautious with their discretionary spending,” Boyd Gaming President and CEO Keith Smith said. “Looking forward, however, we are seeing some signs that recovery is under way, despite the fact that the nation’s economic forecast remains uncertain.”

This deal would combine the two largest shopping mall owners in the United States.  It could also mean a different outlook on the shopping malls in and around Las Vegas.  General Growth is $27 billion in debt and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization last April.

General Growth has a lot of undeveloped land in Summerlin, including the Summerlin Center mall that had construction stopped in October of 2008.  They also own Fashion Show mall, the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian, the Shoppes at the Palazzo, as well as other malls close to the Strip.  Simon owns Las Vegas Outlet Center and the downtown Las Vegas Premium Outlets.

In the letter sent from Simon to General Growth, Simon states that the “all-cash transaction will result in a favorable outcome for all of General Growth’s creditors and shareholders.”  It was also stated that the merger would be “a prompt conclusion to General Growth’s reorganization proceedings.”  This basically states that for the $10 billion offer, Simon would own all that General Growth owns and the debt that General Growth has would be gone.

General Growth has not commented on the offer as of yet.

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Green Valley Ranch Resort

A Station Casinos spokesperson said the bankruptcy filing is on the company’s reorganization plan.  Green Valley Ranch Resort will not close during the reorganization, due to the property itself not being in bankruptcy.

Green Valley Ranch Resort is a hotel, casino, and resort spa located in the Green Valley planned community in Henderson, Nevada.  It is a joint venture of Station Casinos and The Greenspun Corporation, with each entity holding a 50% stake in the property.

GV Ranch Station must restructure the more than $770 million it has in debt.  The property estimates its assets between $100 million and $500 million.  GV Ranch Station owes its creditors between $10 million and $50 million each.  The restructuring plan must be submitted to the court by the end of March.

The Greenspun Corp., a 50% owner of GV Ranch Station, has not filed for protection on bankruptcy on its stake.

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Technorati Tags: Bankruptcy, Chapter 11, Las Vegas

The Ritz-Carlton will still be serving guests until the closing date in May.  All other guests that have booked after May 2^nd will be moved to other hotels.  It is quite unfortunate that such a beautiful hotel that attracted many visitors will be closing.  This is, however, not uncommon in Las Vegas since the economic downturn.  For instance, Fontainebleau stopped construction due to lack of funding.

Here is more of the story:

The resort is owned by Village Hospitality LLC, which is an arm of Deutsche Bank.

Village Hospitality LLC purchased the property last year. The prior owner of The Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas sought reorganization in April 2008 to stop foreclosure on a $103 million mortgage.

The 15-acre, 349-room luxury hotel opened on Feb. 11, 2003. Before Village Hospitality purchased the property, Village Hotel Investors LLC had owned it since it opened.

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It is unknown how much money the resort is losing.

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The Lake Las Vegas hotel received its first AAA Five Diamond Award in November.

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The 3,600-acre Lake Las Vegas, a development 20 miles southeast of the Las Vegas Strip, includes more than 1,600 residential units, luxury hotels and a casino. Lake Las Vegas is now in bankruptcy, burdened with $728 million in liabilities amid the worst real estate downturn in memory.

Full story at Las Vegas Sun

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The contrasting fortunes of two of the city’s most ambitious casino developments – both due to open in the last three months of 2009 – highlight the real potential and significant problems that the gaming industry has faced in recent years.

The former, MGM Mirage’s $8.5bn (£5.25bn) CityCenter resort complex, opened its doors to the public just before Christmas to critical acclaim.

The latter, Miami property developer Jeff Soffer’s $3.1bn Fontainebleau complex, remains only 70pc complete, with no work having been carried out on the development since last summer.

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But that is where the similarities stop – and the reason behind the two very different outcomes is simple: money.

The first problems for Fontainebleau emerged in late 2008, when Lehman Brothers, which had been largely funding the resort’s proposed retail complex, pulled the plug on funding following its own implosion.

By March 2009, Fontainebleau Resorts, the holding company behind the project, was suing a banking consortium over its unwillingness to provide $800m in previously arranged funding.

The consortium – including Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, JP Morgan Chase and Sumitomo Mitsui – decided to pull the plug following what court papers showed to be an “unspecified event of default” which was thought to be a missed payment on an earlier loan, something which the casino developer denied.

Nonetheless the lawsuit was eventually withdrawn, and by June, in its place stood a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing for Fontainebleau Las Vegas LLC and two of its affiliate companies, leading to 3,000 construction workers downing tools.

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MGM Mirage also proved to have deeper pockets and greater access to capital than Fontainebleau’s Soffer, in spite of its own $13.5bn debt pile.

But that is not to say the financing of CityCenter was not without its difficulties – not least in March last year, nine months before the complex’s opening date, when Dubai World sued MGM Mirage in order to limit its exposure to the then troubled project.

Read the Telegraph full story here