Lender wary of project

Thursday, Oct. 17, 2002 | 11:27 a.m.

A Canadian entrepreneur who co-founded a chain of eye surgery clinics is in Las Vegas today to promote a concept for a $5 billion casino resort called "Moon."

Michael Henderson, co-founder of Vancouver-based Lasik Vision Corp., aims to build a 10,000-room, 250-acre megaresort in Las Vegas that would feature a lunar-themed aquatic center, a shopping complex, a "terrestrial biosphere," moon buggy rides and its own "International Space Station" attraction.

Henderson intends to raise money to finance his concept and doesn't yet have a potential site under contract.

He is controversial in Canada, where he sued his former employer for wrongful dismissal and medical negligence for surgery performed on his own eyes. He was also sued by his business partner and Lasik co-founder over allegedly mishandled stock transactions.

Observers are skeptical. Financing is difficult, land is scarce and the project is twice the cost of Steve Wynn's Le Reve, a planned casino resort that would be the most expensive ever built in Las Vegas.

"There are huge challenges in putting together that much capital for a single project,"said Jay Kornmayer, a national gaming lending expert and chairman of Wells Fargo Bank Nevada. "I don't know if I understand the correlation (between) what he's spending and what he hopes to make -- and I think the investment community is going to come to the same conclusion."

But the scale and creativity of the project may be able to attract more capital to Las Vegas, however, said David Atwell, a local hotel and casino broker.

"Big-thinking, creative entrepreneurs are what keeps Vegas so dynamic," he said.