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Downtown Las Vegas Complex to Undergo Renovation, More Jobs Cut

Posted on September 16th, 2010

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With the amount of news of the gambling industry’s continuing decline, another bad piece of news is set to disappoint Las Vegas pundits. For the second time this year, another casino in Las Vegas’ downtown will have its hotel operations shut down, leaving more of the industry’s employees in search of employment opportunities. Owner of the Plaza announced earlier this week that its hotel towers, which contain 1,037 rooms, will be closing. This would mean more or less 400 employees will be out of work for the next two months. Tamares Real Estate released a statement which said that the guest rooms and the casino in the property, which is already 39 years old, will be undergoing a series of renovations. The casino complex measures 16.5 acres and is located at the intersection if Freemont and Main streets. Kenneth Landfield, the chief operating officer of the real estate firm, added that despite the renovations, certain areas of the Plaza will continue to remain operational. These areas include the casino’s slot machines, the food court, the showroom, and the Firefly Restaurant. Landfield added in the statement “The Plaza has been experiencing the same kind of operational difficulties as other casino hotels and many other businesses in Las Vegas.”

The upgrades and changes, Tamares claims, would take at least twelve months to accomplish. He did not name any figures for the budget of the project though. After the statement which was e-mailed to news outfits, the officials of the company declined to give further statements. Phone requests for comments were left unanswered by the Plaza’s general manager, Bobby Ray Harris. Plaza commented though, that the company is committed “”investing a substantial amount of money in the Plaza.” It was only last month when Anthony Santo, a gaming executive known in the industry, was given the license to operate three casinos in downtown Las Vegas, including the Plaza, all of which are owned by Tamares. Santo happens to be one of Tamares’ consultants. Santo has conferred with the Gaming Control Board in the early days of August that negotiations for a loan amounting to $20 million have been taking place, and that this loan would be utilized to renovate the Plaza. Santo also divulged that the plan includes the renaming of the facility to Union Plaza.

According to the mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman, he was only informed of the plans of Tamares by the company’s officers a week ago. Goodman claimed that while he is troubled by the layoffs that are going to happen in the next months, he also adds that the aging Plaza might really need a renovation to boost its image. He said, “You can never feel good about a situation where employees are out of a job. They do have plans to revitalize what is a landmark hotel downtown. Other companies have done that. In the long run, we’ll be alright. But there’s no way you can feel good about people losing their jobs, especially in the economy today.” Tamares claims that they employees of the Plaza have been notified beforehand of the company’s plans. In accordance to federal law, they were given a notice of 60 days of the closing of the affected areas. The real estate firm also owns two other facilities in Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Club and Western Hotel and Casino. A number of Plaza employees are expected to have job offers at the Las Vegas Club.

In the statement, Landfield also added that despite the difficulties brought about by the current economic conditions, the company is still excited about what will happen with the developments in downtown Las Vegas. He reinforces the commitment of the company to work through the transition in order for everyone – the employees, customers and the City of Las Vegas to benefit. Gaming revenues in downtown Las Vegas have declined drastically since June 2008. It did not help that hotel rates in the Las Vegas Strip have also been discounted, making the low rates in the downtown area useless. Moreover, the Golden Nugget, one of the more prominent Strip facilities, opened a 500-room hotel tower in November, causing the downtown facilities to further be vacated.