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A view of the restaurant at the Artisan Hotel. The hotel’s lounge has become a popular late-night hangout for entertainers and musicians who come to the bar after their shows.
Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009 | 2:23 p.m.
Lots of candles and books add to the living room feel of the Artisan Hotel lounge. The lounge has become a popular late-night hangout for entertainers and musicians who come to the bar after their shows.
Artisan Hotel & Spa
The hip, nongaming Artisan Hotel & Spa in Las Vegas has agreed to be foreclosed on by a lender.
Struggling with nearly $8 million in debt, the 64-room property is a locals favorite and is known for its lounge entertainment and fine art collection.
Attorneys in the case and Artisan co-owner Douglas Da Silva couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Wednesday, so it’s unclear when ownership and management of the property may change hands.
The Artisan, at Sahara Avenue and Interstate 15, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in December 2008.
At that time, its assets were reported at $18.3 million, including $18.2 million for the hotel real estate, and exceeded liabilities were listed as $7.85 million.
Creditors listed in the filing included Citizens Bank of Oregon, Mo., owed $7.8 million.
Bankruptcy court records showed the property had 41 employees, generated more than $115,000 in revenue in December 2008 and turned a cash profit for that month of about $18,000.
The company continued to show small cash profits through February but appeared to be losing money taking account monthly debt payments it was delinquent on.
The bankruptcy case was later combined with the bankruptcy case for Da Silva’s Artisan hotel in El Paso, Texas.
Continuing financial problems at the companies became evident early this month when the Internal Revenue Service asked that the Chapter 11 cases be converted to Chapter 7 liquidations because the companies had failed to file federal employment tax returns and tax deposits since the bankruptcy cases were filed a year earlier.
Then, on Friday, attorneys for Da Silva, his wife, Ninette, and Garrett
Capital LLC, successor to Citizens Bank of Oregon, Mo., filed court papers in which the Da Silvas agreed to allow Garrett to foreclose on the Las Vegas Artisan.
The stipulation noted “the debtor has violated a number of covenants and conditions” with the lender and that Garrett could seek the appointment of a receiver to operate the property pending the foreclosure sale.
Court papers filed by Citizens Bank show the Artisan had failed to comply with the terms of a February agreement with Citizens Bank to make debt payments since March and owed more than $633,000 in deficiency payments.
A Citizens Bank court filing also alleged the Artisan and the Da Silvas had:
• Failed to maintain property insurance for the hotel and its contents, forcing Citizens Bank to make an insurance premium payment.
• Failed to pay real estate taxes for the property.
• Allowed liens to be filed against the property, including several filed by the city of Las Vegas.
• Failed to file a bankruptcy reorganization plan for the property by Sept. 30.
• Failed to file monthly operating reports.
Wow, someone was obviously taking too much out of the business if The were bringing over $100K a month and couldn't service $8 million in debt, or pay the federal income tax.
I really like this place. I hope they don't close it. Sad to see this happening. I think there will be more of this to come.
S711
Rumor has it, the Slum Lord of Vegas, Steve Siegel, the genius behind paying a guy a $5M profit for owning the Gold Spike for 6 mos is trying to assume this property.
Just another day (these days) in Vegas...
I agree S711. I think the Artisan is a fun place to relax with friends. There are only a few places of this ilk remaining (imo) and I'd be upset to see it go. But if it has to, I guess it has to :-/
well, its not going to close, on it being profitable. I was going to take my girlfriend there, but saw that report on the news about how horrible it was ran, and decided not to. I am sure that report didn't make anyone else want to go there.
Well that explains the bad news reports...won't be too hard to bring this place back to life. Looking forward to what happens next.
i went to a small banquet there recently and enjoyed the setting.
really cool place, but ya...c'mon...someone's gotta be skimming.
How did they get the hicks in Oregon Mo to loan money?
Is this the same property that was a Travelodge in the 1990's? That place was O.K., but definately nothing special. The company I worked for had an account there and we stayed there off and on for a year or so, until Palace Station gave us a better rate. The cheap rooms in the old part of Palace Station were better than this place. I guess the lounge must be good, don't remember a lounge in the 1990's, but I can't imagine hotel rooms would be a big draw for locals, unless for the obvious reasons, and I don't think this place catered to that business.
No it wasn't the travellodge, that is next door. However it isn't called travelodge anymore it's called the Vegas inn or something like that, but no it wasn't the same location.
they used to have a salsa bar way back when it was the las vegas inn,had some good times dancing w/the spanish babes
The net says Oregon MO has about 1000 population, is this money from moonshinning or what???, it is a disgrace that a bank would loan money out here, don't people in MO need loans to fund projects there???
hey, mred.
we is all jus a buncha hicks here in missouri, but our "moonshine" money we spend in vegas helps keep food on your table.
jerk.
Hey Grandma Crabby. Your right. I misread that.
Again, its a shame places like this have to go but my two thoughts are #1 - there arn't enough folks frequenting places like this enough to allow them to even keep the doors open... And #2 - this is Vegas, a non-gaming niche joint... That in itself is a tough concept unless you have a name behind you (i.e. - Hilton, Marriott, etc.)
The fact that these slum hotel owners continued to serve the public while not correcting a single thing in the restaurant, bar or hotel rooms, shows what huge lack of regard they have for people or their employees-a lot of them faithful employees. My personal hope is that the human debris that owned Artisan get theirs. Goes around, comes around, three times worse. How dare they screw their employees by not paying them - yet they're living fat in Texas. Human debris - that is what they are and what they will remain!
The lounge is cool....the rooms are nice. I like the poolside atmosphere. If I had the cash, I'd buy it.
S711
Never been there, but that's a cool pic of the restaurant. Not the candles and books.
I loved the setting, but the bar was so filthy with cigarette and cigar smoke that I never went back. It's a shame that you have to be sullied and poisoned to go out anywhere in Vegas except Starbucks.
Artisan is nice - stayed there a couple of times - but unless you get a room on the side that does NOT face the roaring I-15, be prepared for constant road noise.
It's a miracle this place stayed open as long as it did. There isn't much tolerance for originality in Las Vegas.
I never cared for it because valet parking was required and the valet was never anywhere to be found. The bar was very comfortable, though. Where else can six people sit around on sofas & lounge chairs and chat?
Sounds like we have our next Vegas spokesman... ( mrability )
The Artisan has so much potential but with owners such as these it's been destined to fail. They were not paying their employees for months at a time, constantly catering friends and family who didn't have to pay. Repairs were merely patched and one can only imagine how much money was dumped into constant renovations. Also purchasing things for your home as if it is for your business isn't very smart. What goes around, comes around is so true. I'm just surprised it didn't happen sooner.
maybe they can use it to process pork bellies, the Hicks that is.
Unfortunately, it's been a while since I've been there. I really liked the atmosphere (I'm a big jazz fan). But, a business is a business. Clearly, the inmates were running the asylum.
Actually, that was the Travelodge we stayed at in the 1990's. The building along I-15 was referred to as the "annex" by the staff (we called it "the barn"). Looks like it has been split into 2 different properties since then. As I said in my previous post, that place was nothing special then. I agree with GM85, It needs an affiliation with a major chain to have access to their reservation system. Independents cannot survive in this market without having some really big draw. This place does not. It's the place people drive by on the way to Circus Circus and Sahara. MAybe they should somehow promote their lounge. Untile this article, I wasn't aware of the lounge. Unfortunately, most of the good LV lounges have been replaced by Cirque shows, etc. The Debbie Reynolds had a great lounge in the 1990's.