Cabaret plan finds downtown home

Sito Negron

Thursday, June 10, 2004 | 11:25 a.m.

While Mayor Oscar Goodman touts Fremont Street east of Las Vegas Boulevard as the prospective place for an entertainment corridor of clubs and cafes, a smaller version might appear by December around the former Trolley Stop building.

A cabaret-style nightclub spurned by Neonopolis and welcomed by owners of the Trolley Stop building at the corner of Third and Ogden streets, across from the Lady Luck casino downtown, is to open by December, said Donald Troxel, the Ohio-based club owner.

"By the time we're done it will be a multimillion-dollar night club with a little bit of everything," said Troxel, who plans to name the business Celebrity Vegas, after his successful Celebrity club in Dayton, Ohio, and feature cabaret shows like those of La Cage. In addition, the Hogs and Heifers club of New York, whose trademark female bartenders famously danced on the bar in the movie Coyote Ugly, tentatively is set to open its own franchise in the same 23,000-square-foot building.

"If it happens it will be the coolest spot in town," Goodman aid. However, he cautioned, "I'm not counting my eggs before the chicken hatches. If it happens I'll be the biggest supporter of it."

The block of Third between Ogden and Stewart will be closed as part of the plan, creating a promenade between the clubs and the Lady Luck. Diana Paul, a city spokeswoman, said that could happen within the next two or three months.

The owners of the Trolley Stop building gutted the interior in preparation for work on the Celebrity Club, which will include raising the roof in parts to heights of 20 feet.

Robert O'Neil, one of the owners of Lady Luck and the Trolley Stop building, said so far the project appears on track, with leases signed for Celebrity and Hogs and Heifers.

"We're high on the potential but we have to be careful," O'Neil said. "We're very excited about downtown, but I would prefer to look back at success than predict it."

O'Neil, who is partners in the project with Andrew Donner, brother-in-law of Councilman Michael Mack, declined to provide information on the purchase of the Trolley Stop building, or the renovations costs.

He did say that so far the building is sound, a plus in the uncertain realm of renovating old buildings, which can be plagued by structural, plumbing, electrical or other defects.

O'Neil said that the idea faces an uphill battle against the mega clubs on the Strip, and locals entertainment from one end of the valley to the next.

"We've got to win back the people who have been loyal to downtown for 20 years, and then bring the new people," O'Neil said. "To win that badge against our neighbors three miles south will be a daunting task. But we've got a loyal customer base downtown and that's our strength."

The street closure, creating a one-block promenade, is important because it ties the Lady Luck with the Trolley Stop building across the street, and both can draw energy from and feed off of the Fremont Street Experience, he said.

"We're never going to take on a mega property, but together we can be a mega downtown," he said.

Joe Schillaci, president of the Fremont Street Experience, said that the planned Celebrity club would enhance the offerings of the Fremont Street Experience, only a block away.

"It adds to the entire mix. ... People who will visit them will also visit us, so I view it as a very strong positive," Schillaci said. "Here's a wonderful five-block long promenade where people can leisurely go from one casino to another, and in close proximity you have Celebrity and Hogs and Heifers, so I think it works well together."

Celebrity initially was planned for Neonopolis. However, Troxel went public with allegations that Neonopolis canceled his lease because of concern over the cabaret drag shows.

Goodman denounced Neonopolis' owners -- who built the $99 million downtown movie theater, mall and restaurant complex with a $32 million investment from the city -- for the alleged discrimination. Then he ordered the city attorney to review the city's agreement with the owners, Prudential Securities. Earlier this month, Prudential announced it was selling Neonopolis.

The move was welcomed by downtown boosters, who generally credit Goodman's relentless promotion of the valley's center, skyrocketing land prices around the city's edges, and new ownership of downtown casinos for the long-awaited signs of a new beginning.

Goodman has consistently championed the city-owned 61-acre parcel of former railroad land as the most valuable piece of real estate in the West, and has been trying to reach an agreement with the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic to open a medical research and treatment center on the site. In addition, a performing arts center and a thicket of high-rise buildings are in the developing plans for the 61 acres.

Goodman also is promoting a vision of East Fremont Street as a multi-block entertainment zone. The city bought the building at 601 Fremont St. and engaged in a preliminary agreement with a group of investors to turn it into lofts with ground-level commercial, but those plans fell through.

However, the mayor, ever the downtown optimist, dismisses the stumbles, delays and thus-far unfulfilled promise of a vibrant community of hip urbanites, and instead focuses on its potential and the steps taken so far.

About a 15-minute walk south of the 61 acres, the Fremont Street Experience and the Trolley Stop building is the Arts District, focused on the Arts Factory, a low-slung building at the confluence of Main and Charleston.

On the way south a pedestrian would pass sites planned for high-rise lofts and condominiums, at Las Vegas Boulevard and Gass Avenue, Las Vegas and Clark Avenue, Third Street and Bonneville, and at Las Vegas and Hoover.

Goodman said the action downtown is "just exciting, you feel it. It's neon, it's just very electric. The Strip is great, but downtown Las Vegas, they're real people."