Sun City Anthem restaurant reopening after two years

By Jeremy Twitchell

Saturday, July 18, 2009 | 1:50 a.m.

After sitting vacant for nearly two years, Sun City Anthem’s Trumpets Restaurant is on track to reopen after the Henderson Planning Commission issued it a conditional use permit Thursday night.

The popular community-owned restaurant, located within the primary recreation center of the age-restricted community that is home to more than 10,000 residents, was shuttered in September 2007 after a judge evicted its contracted operator for failure to pay rent.

The new restaurant, which will be called Tirzo’s Bistro at Trumpets, doesn't have a specific opening date but is scheduled to open sometime this fall.

Finding a new partner to lease and operate the restaurant has been an arduous process for Sun City Anthem. Last year, a resident committee went through an exhaustive review process and selected Boulevard Gaming Group to operate the restaurant. But shortly thereafter, Boulevard withdrew its name from consideration, citing difficulties in the lease negotiation process and negative feedback from some residents regarding the proposed menu.

As the community prepares to welcome in a new operator for Trumpets, which offers a sweeping view of the Las Vegas Valley, Sun City Anthem Board of Directors President Rosalyn Berman said she is ready to welcome the restaurant back with open arms.

“It’s exciting, and I think the community is looking forward to it,” she said.

Two Sun City Anthem residents who spoke at the Planning Commission hearing, however, expressed some reservations regarding a lease provision stating that the community could not unreasonably deny a request from Tirzo’s Bistro to install gaming machines.

“(Residents) do not want gaming at this restaurant by a high margin,” resident and former Board of Directors member Bob Frank said, referring to a community survey in which 67 percent of Sun City Anthem residents said they didn’t want to see gaming machines at the restaurant.

Commissioners responded that the issue of gaming had no bearing on the question of issuing a use permit.

“The gaming issue complies with the request that has been made and that would be a lease negotiation question regarding the agreement that is in place between the tenant and the landlord,” Commission Chairman Dan Shaw said.

Board of Directors Treasurer Shirley Cheri, speaking on behalf of the board, said the provision was a standard part of the lease agreement and that there is no intent to have gaming at the restaurant.