New development’s rise from dust of Clarion’s impending implosion could come at right time

By John Katsilometes

Sunday, Oct. 19, 2014 | 2 a.m.

Information culled from around the VegasVille landscape, beginning with the transaction that will lead to the implosion of the old Clarion on Convention Center Drive:

• Lorenzo Doumani is the new lord of the manor at Clarion, but what form that manor will take over the next three years or so will be the topic of great intrigue. This month, he closed the deal on the 6-acre property for a total outlay of $22.5 million. On Jan. 13 at 12:01 a.m., he plans to throw an implosion party, during which his 7-year-old son, Dylan, will hit the plunger and drop the building to the dirt.

In the Clarion’s place, says Doumani, will be a towering mixed-use resort designed to appeal to conventioneers and costing $500 million to $1 billion (he is banking on a wave of international investment money through Congress’ EB-5 program to help fund the project). The Doumani Project (working title, my own) should be open alongside the $2 billion Resorts World Las Vegas on the old Echelon site, and also opening as the Las Vegas Convention Center finishes its long-planned, $2.5 billion renovation to the east.

If all projects are developed according to the renderings, the new resort will sit at the center of the Las Vegas Global Business District.

As he reviews the designs for the new resort here, Doumani is busy refurbishing a famous property in Los Angeles. Late last year, he purchased a home, previously owned by Katy Perry and Russell Brand, in the 3-acre Park Hill estate suburb in Hollywood Hills. The home, an 8,835-square-foot mansion flanked by a pair of guest houses, overlooks the famed Chateau Marmont luxury hotel on Sunset Boulevard. The property is double-gated, and the main house features a two-story entryway and living room, seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, four half-bathrooms, a dining room adorned with a gold honeycomb-designed ceiling, and a lagoon-styled pool and waterfall set between the two guest houses.

It all sounds rather opulent, and it will be — after Doumani finishes renovations. The compound, well-known to L.A. residents (and fans of Perry and Brand) was built in the 1920s and uninhabited at least since Doumani made the purchase Dec. 31 of last year. Brand and Perry announced they were splitting in December 2011, and the divorce was finalized in 2012. The house went on the market in the spring of 2013.

Perry and Brand paid $6.5 million for the property in 2011. Doumani paid $800,000 less but might have gotten more than he bargained for.

“This place is really old,” he said. “Bela Lugosi is probably hanging out in the basement.”

But like the Clarion parcel, Doumani plans to make it something “really cool.”

• In a nutshell, what has happened at Crazy Horse Too over the past two months: Mike Galam is out, having been dogged by a series of violations of its liquor and cabaret licenses. He turned over ownership of the club to his onetime business partner Craig Franze, founder of the concierge service Zexzoo and a former manager of Crazy Horse Too. Franze is now the adult cabaret’s principal owner and is attempting to earn both a liquor and cabaret license to reopen the club. That process is ongoing, as Franze has said that city inspectors have visited the site but no licenses have been authorized, so the Crazy Horse Too sits dark.

Simple, or so it seems.

But Franze is still connected to the Galam family, as Mike’s father, Victor, and sister, Jackie Barnes, are minority partners in the business. Mike Galam has emphasized repeatedly that he has no ownership or management interest in the Horse.

But Galam is hardly finished operating adult clubs. He is part-owner of the Mile High Gentlemen’s Club in Clearwater, Fla. (The name is inspired by the St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, across the street from the club.) That business opened Oct. 1.

And Galam’s partner in that strip club? Craig Franze.

How city licensing officials in Vegas view this partnership is anyone’s guess. No matter. Franze is still awaiting approval to do business once more at Crazy Horse Too, where the dancers might well be flown in from Florida.