But it has plenty of potential in the form of property designations that allow unrestricted gambling without the requirement to build a hotel.

“It allows someone who wants to get into gaming to get into gaming,” said John Hoss, president of Olympic Coast Investment, the company that owns the site on Bonanza Road between Martin Luther King Boulevard and H Street.

Olympic Coast took ownership of the property Tuesday after it failed to sell in a foreclosure auction. The property had been held by Moulin Rouge Properties, a Las Vegas company that went bankrupt last year, leading to the takeover by Olympic Coast, the senior lien holder.

Moulin Rouge Properties officials had dreams of a full-scale casino resort that paid tribute to the original Moulin Rouge, which gained fame in 1955 during a brief run as the first racially integrated resort in Las Vegas. Like others who envisioned a revival of the historic resort, their vision failed to become reality — even with backing from urban development specialists Republic Urban Properties of San Jose, Calif.

On Wednesday, a four-alarm fire burned much of the old hotel, but several empty apartment buildings are still standing.

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined. Hoss said Olympic Coast will water the debris to prevent dust and provide 24-hour security until it receives permits to haul it away, possibly as early as next week. It will then put the land up for sale.

“We can sit on it as long as it takes to obtain our investment objective,” Hoss said. It might be a tough sell. The recession and a global credit famine is wreaking havoc in the gambling industry. Casino properties on the Strip have lost billions in value and a number of downtown casinos are in financial trouble.

It’s tough to imagine anyone investing much money in a site that hasn’t hosted a viable casino-hotel for decades in a neighborhood that has little foot traffic, save for people walking to bus stops or lining up outside a homeless shelter and soup kitchen.

Hoss said it would be great if a qualified buyer could get a casino started on the site. But he said Olympic Coast won’t seek to develop the land.

“We’re not ones to decide what the best use is,” he said. “We’re not developers.”

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.