New Fitzgerald’s owner looking at expansion

David Strow

Monday, April 15, 2002 | 10:58 a.m.

Three months after he acquired Fitzgeralds, Detroit businessman Don Barden said he's looking at expanding the long-struggling downtown Las Vegas hotel-casino, though probably not until next year at the earliest.

"I haven't done any precise market surveys yet, in terms of feasibility studies, but it appears we can support additional hotel rooms and an expanded casino area," Barden said. "We're attracting a lot of customers from Detroit, Chicago and Tennessee."

Barden said entertainment events at Fitzgeralds, targeted at customers from Chicago and Detroit, were met with a heavy response. The Neonopolis shopping center, set to open downtown next month, should also boost demand, Barden said.

"If you're running at 100 percent occupancy, and you do it on a regular basis, you need more space," Barden said. "We probably won't do anything this year, in terms of expansion. Hopefully we'll get the studies done and implement it next year."

The Fitzgeralds currently has 638 hotel rooms and a 42,000-square-foot casino.

Barden got his start in gaming as the owner and operator of the Majestic Star casino in Gary, Ind. But he turned his company into a national casino chain in December, when he closed on his $149 million purchase of Fitzgeralds casinos in Las Vegas, Tunica, Miss., and Black Hawk, Colo. The purchase had historical ramifications for the gaming industry, as it made Barden the first black businessman to control a national casino company.

Barden still has visions of further expansion. Several years ago he made an unsuccessful run at the Desert Inn on the Strip, and he's still interested in moving down Las Vegas Boulevard. "It's part of the dream," Barden said.

Internet gaming, too, could be a possibility, though it's an issue he hasn't taken a position on yet.

"We're doing some research now on that," Barden said. "If it's legal and viable, I'd take a look at it and be interested. But we haven't focused much on it."

There are more immediate opportunities, Barden said, at the four casinos he now owns. In addition to the downtown Las Vegas property, Barden believes his casinos in Mississippi, Colorado and Indiana could each support at least 300 more hotel rooms.

"We're going to focus on fine-tuning what we have," Barden said. "We have a lot of expansion opportunities with what we have."

One goal Barden has is driving customers from his Mississippi, Colorado and Indiana casinos to Las Vegas. One way to do that is through a national, multi-casino slot card, which Barden said he hopes to introduce by the end of the year. Though he has no property in Detroit, he said his presence in that city will help attract Motor City customers to Fitzgeralds Las Vegas.

Barden fought a long but unsuccessful battle to win one of the three Detroit casino licenses in the late 1990s. After his rejection by the city, Barden sued the city and state for $108 million, claiming the selection process had given two developers an unfair preference. Barden's lawsuit was dismissed in 2000, after a judge ruled Barden had signed away his right to sue.

This January, however, the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians convinced a federal appeals court that the selection process was unconstitutional, and the appeals court sent the case back to a federal judge for reconsideration. A May 1 hearing has been, at which time a judge will consider whether to throw out the three Detroit licenses and order a rebidding process.

"I'm hopeful the judge will require a rebid process, and if that's the case, I'll bid on one of the (Detroit) casinos," Barden said.

Detroit is his home, but Barden said he wants to become more involved in the Las Vegas community -- and become an example for minorities. On Friday, he was the keynote speaker at the Las Vegas Black Expo, a weekend event showcasing more than 100 local black-owned businesses. Fitzgeralds participated in the event, and Barden said he hoped to locate local black-owned businesses that could do business with Fitzgeralds.

"Certainly in the past couple of decades (in gaming), diversity and equal opportunity have been practically ignored, in terms of contract opportunities and upward mobility in management," Barden said. "It's been almost non-existent in the industry."

Gaming companies, particularly MGM MIRAGE and Station Casinos Inc., have made public efforts to change this, and Barden said diversity is a focus for his company as well. Still, Barden said the entire gaming industry -- and his own company -- is not yet doing enough.

"The important thing is for people to have the right attitude, and the willingness to do it. That's what's emerging now," Barden said. "Everyone's realizing there is a tremendous need for diversity.

"I see myself as a catalyst, a role model, leading the charge. I hope other (companies) surpass me. They have greater resources, greater opportunities, more buying power, more employees."

But Barden said he doesn't have any plans to make the Fitzgeralds a casino that caters specifically to an ethnic group.

"On some occasions, a majority of customers may be from certain ethnic groups, but overall, this is a melting pot for everyone. That's the kind of business I want," Barden said. "We want to be known as a fun-filled place where everyone is welcome to enjoy the experience.

"Our niche color is green, green as in money."