Mesquite hotel-casino closes, will be liquidated

David Strow

Friday, March 10, 2000 | 11:52 a.m.

In a surprise move, the court-appointed receiver of the Mesquite Star hotel-casino said today that the 210-room property has been completely closed, putting 267 people out of work.

In a hearing before the Nevada Gaming Control Board today, receiver Randy Black Sr. said the Mesquite Star's hotel was closed this morning, four days after the property's casino was closed. Virtually all of the property's assets will begin to be removed on Monday.

The property is in Mesquite on I-15, north of Las Vegas near the junctions of the state lines of Nevada, Arizona and Utah.

"We have dismissed everyone," Black told board members this morning.

Black had requested the expedited hearing before the control board in an attempt to gain a license to operate the property's casino. On Monday, Black said he intended to continue operations at the Mesquite Star, and hoped to reopen the casino once he received a gaming license. Black planned to operate the property with the financial backing of Dr. Richard Kelley of Las Vegas and the estate of Dr. Richard Tam, the secondary lienholders of the Mesquite Star.

But those plans changed quickly, Black said, when he discovered virtually all of the Mesquite Star's assets, from its slot machines to its carpeting, was leased.

To reopen the hotel-casino with the current equipment, Kelley and Tam's estate would have had to pay the property's outstanding debts to the leaseholders -- or gone out and purchased new equipment.

In all, reopening the property would have required an investment of roughly $5 million -- and the two investors were not willing to put up that cash to keep the Mesquite Star open. As a result, Black withdrew his application for a gaming license Monday.

"There will be an onslaught of folks (on Monday) to pick up their stuff," Black said. "It'll be a war zone, I suspect."

The owner of the property, NevStar Gaming & Entertainment Corp. of Las Vegas, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December, claiming assets of $22.2 million and debts of $23.5 million. But a bankruptcy judge rejected the application, releasing the property to NevStar's creditors.

Black said he recently discovered that this bankruptcy petition was filed as several trucks literally waited outside the Mesquite Star to pick up their property.

Black, who owns five casinos in Mesquite and Las Vegas, said his receivership will end on Monday -- and said the ultimate fate of what's left of the Mesquite Star is up to the property's mortgage holder.

"I can't speculate what they might do," Black said.