Casino once owned by Frank Sinatra bankrupt Belleville News-Democrat Frank Sinatra's old casino at Lake Tahoe, closed for renovations for nearly ... The rise of Indian casinos in California has prompted Tahoe to slowly ...

Casino once owned by Frank Sinatra bankrupt Centre Daily Times The front entrance of the Cal Neva Resort & Casino in 2009. ... The rise of Indian casinos in California has prompted Tahoe to slowly reinvent itself as ...

AUGUST 5, 2016 9:07 PM

Casino once owned by Frank Sinatra bankrupt

The front entrance of the Cal Neva Resort & Casino in 2009. The resort has been closed for renovations since 2013 and is now in bankruptcy. Sacramento Bee file

BY DALE KASLER

dkasler@sacbee.com

• • LINKEDIN
  • GOOGLE+
  • PINTEREST
  • REDDIT
  • PRINT
  • ORDER REPRINT OF THIS STORY

Frank Sinatra’s old casino at Lake Tahoe, closed for renovations for nearly three years, is now in bankruptcy.

Months after halting work on a $49 million overhaul, the developer of the Cal Neva Resort & Casino has placed the venerable Tahoe property in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

The case has left the reopening in limbo, although the developer said in court papers the project can be finished in a few months. The national hotel chain that has contracted to operate the Cal Neva says on its website the property is scheduled to open next April.

IN A FILING IN U.S. BANKRUPTCY COURT IN SANTA ROSA, THE DEVELOPER SAID THE PROPERTY FACES ABOUT $40 MILLION IN DEBT AND WILL NEED $23.8 MILLION TO FINISH THE RENOVATION.

Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/news/nation-world/national/article94081592.html#storylink=cpy

Read more 

“An iconic Lake Tahoe property,” said spokesman Tom Lotshaw of the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. “It would be great to see that completed. So we’re hoping.”

He said construction was halted late last fall and agency officials haven’t heard from the developer, Criswell Radovan LLC, since the bankruptcy filing.

The case, filed in late June in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Rosa, is the latest setback for a 90-year-old resort that was once the glamor spot on Tahoe’s north shore. When Sinatra owned the Cal Neva, from 1960 to 1963, it became a summer getaway spot for his Rat Pack pals and other entertainers. He lost his license after an FBI agent spotted Sam Giancana, the Chicago mobster, on the premises.

Since then, the Cal Neva has gone through a succession of owners and has gradually slid into irrelevancy. The rise of Indian casinos in California has prompted Tahoe to slowly reinvent itselfas a luxury market that depends less and less on gambling. The Cal Neva, which straddles the state line, has been unable to get back on track.

“It hasn’t mattered in 40 years,” said Ken Adams, a Reno casino-industry consultant.

Criswell Radovan, a developer from St. Helena, bought the Cal Neva in April 2013 and closed it five months later for a long-overdue face-lift. The company said it would rebuild the 10-story hotel tower, infuse the resort with Sinatra-era glamor and operate a 6,000-square-foot casino – tiny by modern casino standards. Criswell Radovan originally targeted a December 2014 opening, in time for what would have been Sinatra’s 99th birthday, but the project got pushed to May 2016. Sinatra died in 1998.

The developer’s financial problems came to a head in February, when it defaulted on a $6 million loan. The lender was prepared to initiate a foreclosure sale, “necessitating the Chapter 11 case,” Criswell Radovan’s lawyer David Potras wrote in court papers. The bankruptcy means the foreclosure sale couldn’t go forward.

In a court filing last week, the developer said the property faces about $40 million in debt and would need $23.8 million to finish the renovation. It added that it expects to get new financing for the property in a month or two, and believes “the redevelopment will be completed within six months of the closing of the refinancing.” It estimated the Cal Neva would be worth $75 million when the project is done.

Officials with Criswell Radovan couldn’t be reached for comment.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., the international hotel chain, agreed to operate the Cal Neva as part of its “luxury collection.” The chain’s website says the hotel will open next April. The developer owes Starwood about $30,000, according to court records.

Officials with Starwood were unavailable for comment.

Read more here: http://www.bnd.com/news/nation-world/national/article94081592.html#storylink=cpy

Siena closes casino floor

Siena closes casino floor

The Siena Hotel Spa Casino temporarily closed its gaming operations on Friday, building a 6-foot wall on its gaming floor around most of its slot machines. The property's hotel, restaurants, spa and sports book remain open.


The Siena filed for bankruptcy protection in Northern California in August -- a strategic move to keep the downtown resort property open while a deal to bring in a partner to help run the property can be finalized.

The Siena's overall debt could be as much as $100 million, according to papers filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Oakland, Calif.

Siena officials could not be reached for comment but issued a news release Friday afternoon announcing that Innovation Capital LLC will serve as its financial adviser to assist the property "in its restructuring discussions with creditors and to pursue various strategic alternatives including securing short-term financing."

"In order to focus on reorganization activities and explore strategic and operational alternatives, Siena has taken the short-term step of closing its gaming floor to customers. The news release said Siena intends, however, to continue providing uninterrupted services to its valued customers in its hotel, restaurants, spa and meeting facilities."

Siena employees on Friday were telling guests and customers the gaming area was closed for renovation.

Joe Santos of Burlingame, Calif., said the Siena was his favorite place in Reno, until it removed the craps tables, because it has some of the nicest rooms in town and he likes the restaurant. The Siena closed its table games in June.
"If they have to renovate, they have to renovate. As long as they renovate for the better," he said.

Dennis Neilander, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, said the Siena requested temporary closure of its gaming operations. Its sports book will remain open because it is run by the Club Cal Neva of Reno under a separate license.

"They decided to shut down (their) gaming operation and take that bankroll to other obligations as part of steps to make the property viable," Neilander said.

As a condition of granting the temporary closure, the gaming control board required the Siena to maintain enough cash to pay any outstanding tickets, Neilander said.

Gaming was shut down about 4 a.m. Friday, and agents from the board were on hand to observe the final drop about 6 a.m.

Neilander said the Siena is working on proposals to redo the slot floor.

"I think they decided this was the best course of action," he said.
Temporary closures are done by quarter.

The approval runs through the end of this quarter. If the Siena wants to remain closed for another quarter, they can make another request.

Jeff Siri, CEO and president of the Cal Neva, said it will continue to keep the sports book in the Siena open.

"Our sports book's done OK business today, surprisingly," he said, noting the wall that had been placed around the slot machines. "Hopefully we can spruce up the area and stay active. If they can keep the hotel business open, I think it could do OK."

Reno Mayor Bob Cashell said as of 3 p.m. he hadn't spoken with anyone at the Siena yet but had heard it closed the gaming to do a renovation.

"I'm just hoping they're not closing," he said.

Cashell said with other downtown properties shuttered, suspending gaming operations at the Siena could have a negative impact on the city as far as attracting investors.

Expert's insights

The closure, however, isn't likely to have a significant impact on the region's gaming win, said Bill Eadington, a professor of economics and director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno.

"The industry is over capacity at present, it's contracted nearly 25 percent in the last five years," Eadington said. "The closure is not terribly surprising. Customers who would go to the Siena will go elsewhere. There are plenty of empty slot machines to find. It's disappointing for owners and employees, but the handwriting has been on the wall for the Siena for some time."

Eadington said the Siena faced challenges that would make it difficult to succeed despite the economy, such as its location in a rough neighborhood and no partnerships with other properties.

"There are a lot of fundamentals you can point to that say this is a difficult operation under normal times. That's why there's not much surprise in this," he said.




Siena Hotel Spa Casino

•2001: Siena opened in 2001 after a $16 million to $20 million makeover of the former Holiday Hotel-Casino.

•December 2009: The Siena received a notice of default and threat of foreclosure sale from its California-based lender, Bar-K Inc., of Lafayette, Calif., citing an original loan of $50 million.

•March 11, 2010: After three months of reorganization to stave off foreclosure, the Siena plans a big comeback with a new Club Cal Neva sports book. A new nightclub, The Loft, would open in early April, Siena executives said.

•June 11: The Siena announces that it will close down all table games, eliminating about 35 jobs.

•June 22: The Siena faces suspension of its license after several months of delinquency in room tax payments. The Siena owes $135,469 in room taxes from January, March, April and May.

•July 2: The Nevada Gaming Commission gives the Siena a stay of execution on the suspension of its gaming license. Under the order, the Siena must retain $230,000, or an amount determined by a formula based on its casino operations, to pay winners. If it fails to have that amount on hand, it faces immediate closure by state Gaming Control Board agents.
Additionally, the commission orders all casino tax and fee obligations totaling about $150,000 must be paid by July 22.

•July 15: Health-insurance coverage for employees and former employees at the Siena "” which was terminated on June 1 by Hometown Health Providers "” will be reinstated by July 29 if Siena pays its debt to the health-insurance provider. Affected parties receive letters from Hometown Health informing them that their insurance coverage had been canceled, catching many by surprise.

•July 23: The Siena files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a strategic move to keep the downtown resort property open while a deal to bring in a partner to help run the property can be finalized. The Siena's overall debt could be as much as $100 million, according to papers filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Oakland, Calif.

•Friday: The Siena temporarily shuts down its gaming operations and announces it will work with Innovation Capital, LLC to assist the property in restructuring.
Source: Reno Gazette-Journal archives, research

Cal Neva Closing

Frank Sinatra casino to close due to Las Vegas competition

A Nevada casino once owned by Frank Sinatra and patronised by Hollywood stars and mobsters has closed amid plunging gambling rates and competition from Las Vegas.


Not even a star-spangled history and an association with the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Junior has been enough to save the Cal Neva Lodge Casino from the grim realities of the US casino industry.

The casino, which sits on Lake Tahoe near the California border, last year saw its revenues fall to about a half of what they were in 1992 allowing for inflation, said William Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada

Other local casinos have closed or made drastic cutbacks, unable to compete with Las Vegas – itself struggling – and the growing number of gambling resorts on Indian reservations.

"The realities are when you have that kind of decline the weakest operators typically get pushed out," said Professor Eadington. "The older, tired casinos and the Cal Neva is a great example don't have much to offer for gaming."

Prof Eadington said the casino had suffered from years of neglect as well as growing competition for a shrinking number of gamblers.

“It’s a tired property in a declining market,” he said.

He said the Cal Neva had long been viewed as “ill-starred place” - burning down in the 1930s and having a series of owners who went bankrupt or landed in prison.

Sinatra gave up the gambling licence in 1963 after Giancana, supposedly an outlaw, got into a fight on the premises and the singer later swore at the head of the local gaming control board.

Reputed to be America's oldest licensed casino, the Cal Neva opened in 1926 and hosted a 13-year-old Judy Garland's first performance nine years later.

However, it enjoyed its heyday in the early 1960s when it was bought by Sinatra, reportedly in partnership with Sam Giancana, a Chicago mobster.

Adding a 35-seat celebrity show room and rooftop helicopter pad, the pair ensured film stars, singers and Mafiosi flocked to its blackjack games and roulette tables.

A network of underground tunnels, built to smuggle alcohol during Prohibition, allowed the VIP guests to move around the resort without being seen by the public.

Monroe spent the last weekend of her life at the resort in 1962 as a guest of the Rat Pack actor Peter Lawford and his wife.

While there, she discussed making a film with Dean Martin and, it is said, a rapprochement with her second husband, the baseball star Joe DiMaggio, another regular Cal Neva guest.

However, a 1999 biography claimed Monroe was brought there to be threatened not to reveal her Mafia links, drugged in her cabin and photographed in compromising positions.

Another popular Cal Neva rumour claims she used the resort for a tryst with John F Kennedy, still another that Joe Kennedy, the president's father, took his secretary there each year while collecting the family Christmas tree.

Staff admit the resort – whose hotel and restaurant remain open – has traded off its colourful history but Guy Rocha, a former Nevada state archivist, said it would not register with younger gamblers.

"The Cal Neva doesn't capture people's imagination the way it once did," he said.