Siena closed

Closed Siena casino in Reno has one more possible lifeline

The Siena Hotel Spa Casino, which closed at noon Thursday, has one last lifeline to explore, according to documents filed with federal bankruptcy court in Reno this week.

By Oct. 29, the troubled property will either be bailed out by a potential investor or will be liquidated in the ongoing bankruptcy, the court filing states.

"It is difficult to say what the market value of the property would be," said Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno. "Although the hotel portion is still very high quality and a nice product."

Hotel guests and employees removed their belongings Thursday from the 214-room property, which carries an estimated $100 million in debt.

The Siena had about 500 employees when it opened in 2001. This summer, about 300 remained, but many were laid off as the property closed its gaming operations and cut back in all departments. The 23,000-square-foot casino shut down its table games in June and closed off its slots earlier this month, leaving only the sports book open in the gaming area.

Joe Buentipo, a cook who also worked in shipping and receiving, said he knew something was going on Thursday morning when security guards set a chair near his door and he was told not to accept any deliveries.

At an 11 a.m. meeting they were told the doors would be closed, he said.
"We had some banquets scheduled; I don't know what they're going to do with that," Buentipo said.

Neither Siena owner Barney Ng nor general manager Clyde Callicott retuned calls Thursday for comment.

The sports book was run by the Club Cal Neva, and Cal Neva president Jeff Siri said winning betting tickets from Siena and futures bets will be honored at the Cal Neva and all sports books run by the Cal Neva.

Those include sports books at the Eldorado Hotel Casino, Boomtown, Terrible's Rail City Casino in Sparks and the Bonanza Casino.

Siri said he's hopeful the Siena's patrons will migrate to the Cal Neva and other downtown properties.

"It hurts us to lose the Siena's (214) rooms, though," Siri said. "We hate to see that."

The Siena had been struggling since its opening in 2001 and had staved off foreclosure last year. The operation declared bankruptcy in August.

According to statements filed in bankruptcy court Wednesday, the Siena ran into a "liquidity" crisis in October and couldn't pay its NV Energy bills. Earlier this year, the property had agreed to pay the utility $50,000 every two weeks to keep the lights on.

The most recent filing states the hotel is temporarily closed, but the debtors remain in "active negotiations" with one prospective investor.

By Oct. 29, the filing states, the Siena will either be able to make a deal that will allow it to "reopen some or all of its operations" or will remain closed and "report to the court with respect to its sale prospects and the relative merits of continuing its sale prospects under Chapter 11 or Chapter 7" bankruptcy.

Gaming experts said that given the current economic conditions and gaming's long-term decline in Northern Nevada, the Siena's prospects are dim.

"It's always regrettable when this kind of thing happens," Eadington said. "The problems at the Siena have been pretty systemic and have been developing for a long time. They are related to the overall decline in the gaming economy for the past 10 years and to the Siena's location, size and lack of ties to other casinos.
"To a large extent, it's been an orphan and it's been isolated."

He said it's increasingly difficult to run a successful gaming property in Northern Nevada, especially one with the added problems of the Siena.

Ellen Oppenheim, the president of the Reno Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority, said the Siena had been making weekly payments on its room taxes since declaring bankruptcy in August. But she said the property still owes back room taxes accumulated before the bankruptcy filing.

The RSCVA doesn't disclose individual room tax revenues, but figuring 214 rooms at a 50 percent occupancy rate puts the Siena's annual room tax bill at about $300,000 per year.

Oppenheim said guests who planned to stay at the Siena are being rebooked into other Reno-Sparks hotels. She said she hopes a new owner can be found to take over the hotel-casino.

"The Siena is a unique property along the river," she said. "It has great potential."