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Riviera, Las Vegas: The final day. LONG answer
Posted By: Fatboy In Response To: Riviera, Las Vegas: The final day. (Art Grater)
Date: Thursday, 7 May 2015, at 7:32 p.m.
here is a couple thoughts and musings,
When was the last time you were at SLS in LA? I've been there a few times, when it first opened it was nice, lots of eye candy, valet's know their job(never hand a ticket to a "big" car) just park it top and get tipped accordingly after. Last time I was there a year ago, it had slipped quite a bit from when it first opened. The one Valet guy was not very busy and the eye candy-gone.
I have not been to SLS in Vegas, I drove past 1t a month ago when i was in town for 36 hours, I own a office building a mile behind it on Sahara that i haven't been to in 3 years. The Vegas I lived in is completely gone. The reason I mention my office on Sahara BL is to show I know that area of Vegas very well and its pitfalls. The Sahara was shot 20 years ago perhaps longer. They tried everything to keep it relevant and viable. The only thing I ever saw that helped them survive was the they plugged in NASCAR cafe about the time they built the race track in Vegas, That went over well, and that ran for 10-12? years, eventually that failed. The Sahara was in free fall at that point. The whole north end of the Strip has been on life support for 25 years.
When the Sahara closed it sat for a couple years, Nazarian(sls owner) and a group bought it, that never opened-the shit hit the fan in Vegas and the economy disappeared, I never seen anything like that in my life. I got destroyed too. The Sahara group filed a Chapter 11 or 13, I don't recall the details, at the end of the day Nazarian got the property for almost nothing as he had the $ to stay in the deal and everyone else lost. I have not verified that personally-just the word in the street. Finally he opened under his brand sls when the economy got better, a smart move on a doomed property.
What I do know is he put perfume on a pig, its still a pig. Bet the under on how long it lasts. Wrong end of the strip, The Riv, Circus, Stratosphere the SLS neighbors are not sharing the same customer demographic. The 3 I just mentioned share the low end of the market and the Riv died RIP. The location, bad layout etc are too much to fade, SAL Vegas is history sooner than later.
I heard Miami SLS is good, very good, if your not married or gay, lol. I think Nazarian has taken his eye off the ball here in LA as he has been developing the brand "SLS" in other markets, I think there is a IPO on that brand in a few more years. He is getting blind spots in his operation as it gets bigger. Which is why the sls in LA isn't what it was. Also in LA the "Hot" spots move around every 2-3 years, that's the typical life span in LA for "the place to be". As far as the hotel itself in LA that's now the sls, I've seen 3? 2 at least, other "brands" in that building.
to clear up one thing i commuted between LA/Vegas for 20 years. I live a mile from sls LA and in Vegas my offices were behind the Sahara as noted before. This is why i'm pretty informed on both cities,
last thought:
About 3-4 years ago a new group bought the Riv and kept the mob style casino going, which is FAR BETTER than the rest of the bullshit chrome plated joints on the strip that take gamblers $ in 5 minutes. Another topic if your interested.
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