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Aug. 20, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Greek Isles changes hands

Loanholders complete foreclosure buy, promise to keep property open

By ARNOLD M. KNIGHTLY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

A BRIEF HISTORY

1972 -- The Royal Inn's casino operations are acquired by Michael Gaughan and business partner Frank Toti. They finance the deal using the profits from their dealing school.

January 1980 -- Royal Americana Hotel and Casino is bought by a New York-based food service company Horn & Hordat Co. The company closed the property March 1, 1982, due to poor performance.

November 1983 -- The renovated and family-themed Paddlewheel is opened by an investment group led by board members from Horn & Hordat. It closes October 1991.

June 1993 -- Debbie Reynolds Hotel opens but files for bankruptcy in July 1997. The property stopped operating the casino in March 1996.

August 1998 -- The World Wrestling Federation buys the property in bankruptcy, but a $100 million redevelopment never happens.

July 2001 -- Newly themed Greek Isles opens. Chicago-based Mark IV Realty Group acquired the property from the WWF in December 2000.

July 2007 -- An investment group led by DI Development acquires the property, announces plan for a redevelopment but files bankruptcy 21 months later.

ARNOLD M. KNIGHTLY/REVIEW-JOURNAL

The Greek Isles is set to remain open after loanholders completed a foreclosure and acquisition of the hotel-casino last week.
Photos by Jerry Henkel/Review-Journal



The Greek Isles, once the Debbie Reynolds Hotel, has 202 hotel rooms in a 14-story tower on about 6 acres on Convention Center Drive. The property has a showroom, restaurant and a slots-only casino (below).





The Greek Isles will remain open -- for now.

The property's loanholders completed a foreclosure and acquisition of the hotel-casino last week. And the new ownership group said Wednesday it intends to keep the property open "while assessing the hotel and casino's future."

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    • Canpartners Realty is the holding company for Los Angeles-based Canyon Capital Realty Partners and Bronx, N.Y.-based Spectrum Group Management.

    "We are now focused on assessing the property and developing a plan to move forward," Richard Bosworth, Canyon senior director, said in a statement announcing the acquisition. "We want to make it clear that ownership is committed to keeping the Greek Isles Hotel and Casino open for business as we determine the next steps for the property."

    The Greek Isles, formerly the Debbie Reynolds Hotel, has 202 hotel rooms in a 14-story tower on about 6 acres on Convention Center Drive west of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

    The property has a restaurant, showroom and a slots-only casino with nearly 90 machines operated by United Coin Machine Co., which has run the casino since 2001 under a lease agreement.

    Canyon and Spectrum provided a $56 million loan in 2007 to an investment group to buy the property for $83 million.

    GIH-SPE II, a group led by developer Harold Rothstein, defaulted on the loan in August 2008 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware in April.

    Canpartners filed a lawsuit in January asking for a receiver to take over the hotel's operations from Illinois-based hotel operator Mark IV Hospitality.

    Rothstein had planned to implode the property in late 2008, replacing it with two towers with 780 hotel rooms, 77,000-square-foot casino and 71,200 square feet of convention, retail and restaurants.

    Contact reporter Arnold M. Knightly at aknightly@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.

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    irene661 wrote on September 01, 2009 01:00 PM: Tear it down, nothing works, it is jixed. Bad location and being without workers, a very poor choice to stay at. Considering all the great buys in Vegas, why stay there.....might be running on a very short staff soon.


    Slotsandpokeronly wrote on August 20, 2009 05:31 PM: Slots and poker ONLY!

    Bring in some of those internet & old-timers and let the rubes play them head-to-head.

    Hell, I'd donate a couple of bucks to sit at the same table as Brunson or Moneymaker.

    Put a world-class deli for the players, and an old-time coffee shop for the convention trade.

    Sots and poker ONLY!


    Eddie Gin wrote on August 20, 2009 04:44 PM: They had some of the best ribs around pork and beef; there was always a line. People then left the restaurant gambled a little bit or went to the show. Not sure what happened. Most likely as usual the owners get greedy. Bring back some good video poker machines, and you will bring back some locals, you will also have a place locals can bring their guests “All YOU CAN EAT RIBS” hello.


    David wrote on August 20, 2009 08:20 AM: The Greek Isles is jinxed. No one can do anything with it. Just implode and start fresh. However, with only 6 acres, there's not much you can do.