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Another potential buyer emerges for Fontainebleau
Las Vegas company would target it to military personnel, veterans
Published Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009 | 1:31 p.m.
Updated Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009 | 4:22 p.m.
Sun Archives
- Fontainebleau lenders sue construction companies over liens (11-27-2009)
- Fontainebleau retail component seeks bankruptcy protection (11-27-2009)
- Contractors make another bid for Fontainebleau (11-26-2009)
- Penn National’s bid sets up auction for Fontainebleau (11-5-2009)
- Fontainebleau subcontractors organize to finish project (11-17-2009)
- Fontainebleau developer plans appeal of rulings (11-2-2009)
- Subcontractors fall short in effort to move Fontainebleau case (10-26-2009)
- Executive named examiner in Fontainebleau bankruptcy case (10-16-2009)
A little-known Las Vegas company has expressed interest in acquiring the bankrupt Fontainebleau casino-resort project.
The Miami Herald reported today that Craig Road Development Corp. sent a letter to Fontainebleau's bankruptcy judge in Miami expressing interest in buying the unfinished resort on Las Vegas Boulevard for $350 million.
Other than putting up Web sites, it's unclear if Craig Road Development has any business operations.
Nevada Secretary of State records show its corporate status is in default.
Its officers, state records show, are president and treasurer Eugene Hill; directors La Tina and Prentice Barbee of Chicago; and secretary Patrick Nary of Cheyenne, Wyo.
Asked Saturday if the company had any business operations or revenue, Hill said: "We do not care to discuss our financial or business operations at this time.''
"We do hope to re-establish our business status with the state in short order," he added.
Hill is also an officer with Eugene Hill USA Inc. -- the state lists the status of that company as revoked.
The Herald reported that in the Nov. 30 letter, Hill said his company and "certain investors'' are in discussions with the U.S. Army about acquiring a resort for military personnel and veterans.
On one of his Web sites, Hill says he spent 17 years as an Army public affairs supervisor and since June 2007 has been chief executive of Craig Road Development, the "parent company of Heroes Property Group, which is the operator of Heroes Resort Casinos, Hotels and Lodges.''
Judge A. Jay Cristol told Hill in a letter Friday that the auction of the Fontainebleau is set for next month and advised him to coordinate his efforts with the debtor, the Herald reported.
If Hill participates in the auction, he'll be competing with stalking horse bidder Carl Icahn, who has offered $156.2 million in cash and financing to take over the project. Court records show experts believe it will take more than $1 billion and as much as $2 billion to complete the resort.
On his eugenehillusa.com Web site, Hill says Craig Road Development has been seeking investors for its proposed $6 billion "Heroes Property Group Las Vegas joint venture in the world-famous Las Vegas resort corridor.''
The project is envisioned as having three resorts with 7,500 rooms, 44 restaurants, 6,000 gaming machines, spas, fitness centers and performance venues.
But the recession has dried up capital markets, visitation to Las Vegas has been hurt by the recession and the Echelon and Fontainebleau projects are mothballed,
So it's unlikely even an established gaming company would pursue development of such a project anytime soon.
But, Hill said Saturday, there is plenty of interest in development of a resort for military personnel and veterans. He described his company as a group of veterans and entrepreneurs.
In a statement, he said:
"The Department of Defense conducts a triennial review of its morale, welfare and recreation facilities by surveying service people, their families, government civilians and retirees. They’ve discovered that through their recreation options to include its recreation centers it can improve morale by showing all of these groups that DOD cares about them and their families. In another iteration of this survey, it was revealed the surveyed audiences found Las Vegas to be the third-most sought after location for a recreation center.
"A 3,800-room facility such as the Fontainebleau or any of the 4- or 5-star mega resorts match the caliber of facility exposed in the survey. As such an unfinished, pre-bankruptcy opportunity to bid on the Fontainebleau offers an exceptional opportunity for delivering a new facility to this very special audience.
"We are in discussion with several entities with a strong history of patriotic contributions to our men and women in uniform but it would not be prudent to name them or to use this as a medium to advertise our fundraising efforts or their discrete actions. Leave it said that we have not fully exhausted our effort to bring more qualified investors to this effort.
"More importantly, we have identified a number of financial options available to this partnership who have a history or interest in collaborating with a government entity for a variety of reasons. ''
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There ya go ! sell the Fountainblows to a defaulted Craig Road Development Co. for 350 million! That 'l really get 'er finished NOT...
Sounds like first-rate B.S. to me...
I'll buy it if you pay ME $350 Million.
Here's a quote DIRECTLY off of the "Eugene Hill USA, Inc." "About Us" webpage:
"...Consequently, our firms reach a 28% to 43% profit range within a 36 to 48 month period...."
HEY F.B.I.
WHERE ARE YOU...?
Hey! My name is Slim Shady. Myself and another bunch of unknown's want to buy the Fountain Bleau project. We want to make a bid of $400 million. Now that were making this fictitious bid, were on the bidding list too! Well Carl! I guess your out, were the largest bidder now. I'm just about broke so that should qualify me to make a bid right?
Slow news day? This is a story I would expect to see at the grocery store.
In many ways, this absurd bid by a fictitious company is emblematic of the colossal mess that "Fountainred" (as in fountain of red ink) has become. By the time it's all sorted out in court with all the various lenders and contractor leins, the place will have become such an eyesore and safety hazard it'll wind up being imploded!!
we can use this facility to replace gitmo
I have said it from day one...implode.
They based in Lagos?? j/k
ensign is a pig/////// resign ensign
Our own little Green Zone on the Las Vegas strip, brilliant!
When interviewed, Hill was wearing a red rubber ball nose and over sized red shoes, thereby being referred to as a clown by anyone in the know...
There is a better chance of our lord Jesus Christ opening a strip club in a synagogue than this idiot being .1% legit!!!
And the Sun puts this on its front page...no wonder the Sun is in trouble, Brian! There is no validity to this group and their interest will go nowhere. They should be fined for taking the Judge's time to read their letter.
I have 17 bucks on me, maybe I'll make an offer. Nobody knows me either, But hey, I'm not in default!
The lunatics have overrun the assylum.
Another one is waving the carrot. Icaahan will have to pull out a bigger carrot to impress the bankruptcy judge. would be interesting to find out how serious the bid is. 350 million for a halfway finished project sounds like somebody has quite an idea what to make with this building. perhaps they found a way to skip the completion costs to a degree that there is a substantial chance to make the building a profitable thing......?
From Switzerland
Sounds like the same guys that bid on Crazy Horse Too.Is Mike Signorelli the CEO?Just another fairy tale.
I bet the property values in Switzerland are stable, look at "Polelansky's Place."
One of the reasons is they limit growth a to a sensible amount. Look at Boulder City and Tahoe, their values have dropped less than other places.
We need government to monitor, manage, ad control growth for the good of all.
Take a look at the website. Their data is two years out of date. Nice use of powerpoint.
They can fly in on Family Airlines on a Boeing 747 from Phoenix!
"Craig Road Development Corp. sent a letter to Fontainebleau's bankruptcy judge in Miami expressing interest in buying the unfinished resort" - frankly that judge should toss their butts and their paperwork out of his office in short order.
This company sounds like a complete sham, any which way you read this! Hey SEC, are you listening, and checking out these investors?
"Hill said his company and "certain investors'' are in discussions with the U.S. Army about acquiring a resort for military personnel and veterans." Really? Really? Can you FEEL my dramatic eye roll in cyberspace people?
What's next, someone gatecrashing a State dinner without an invite??? Oh, my bad, nevermind. Seems strange things happen all the time these days.
"Craig Road Development Corp." and "Eugene Hill USA" seem like in my opinion the mythical desires of a lunatic wannabe developer. Just because you can create a web site describing your grandiose plans does not make it reality. Please go away before you embarrass yourself or this town anymore.