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courtesy photo
A view inside Prive at Planet Hollywood.
Thursday, April 8, 2010 | 4:26 p.m.
Sun Archives
- Harrah’s to clubs: Pay past-due expenses at Planet Hollywood or leave (3-8-2010)
- Privé owner files for bankruptcy protection in Florida (11-12-2009)
- County grants temporary license to Prive (8-18-2009)
- Privé close to receiving temporary liquor license (8-17-2009)
- Prive withdraws appeal of liquor license denial (8-14-2009)
- Third time a charm for Privé’s liquor license? (8-14-2009)
- Former Prive workers blast handling of tips (8-10-2009)
- Is the party over for Prive? (7-29-2009)
The Privé and Living Room nightclubs at Planet Hollywood resort in Las Vegas are losing their lease with Planet Hollywood.
The adjacent and jointly operated clubs, which filed for bankruptcy protection in Miami in November, filed a motion Wednesday to dismiss the bankruptcy case because of the lease issue.
"The debtors are unable to operate their nightclubs without the lease and, as such, have no business to reorganize in Chapter 11," attorneys for Privé said in the filing.
Privé did not say in its filing when or if the clubs would close. Planet Hollywood had no immediate comment on the situation.
A spokeswoman for club owner the Opium Group in Miami could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday and attempts to reach Privé management in Las Vegas for comment were unsuccessful.
Privé's filing noted that Planet Hollywood, which was acquired by Harrah's Entertainment Inc. after Privé filed for bankruptcy, is owed about $300,000 in past-due rent and other charges under the lease plus "an alleged amount of approximately $200,000 in fines arising from county code violations at the leased premises."
After deducting a credit of $68,000 Privé claims to be owed, Privé may owe Planet Hollywood up to about $440,000, the nightclubs said in their filing. On top of that, Privé may be liable for some $1.5 million owed to construction companies that built out the Privé space, the filing said.
Facing a deadline of Saturday to "assume or reject the lease" under the bankruptcy laws, Privé said it's decided to reject the lease.
"Planet Hollywood has informed the debtors that it is unwilling to restructure the lease obligations and/or amortize the amounts owed thereunder -- totaling up to nearly $2 million in past-due lease charges plus potential mechanics' lien (construction claims) -- under a Chapter 11 plan," the Privé filing said. "Without any concession by Planet Hollywood, the debtors are unable to assume the lease."
Privé added that conversion of the case to a Chapter 7 liquidation would not be feasible since Privé's physical assets are worth far less than what is owed to Planet Hollywood. Planet Hollywood's execution of its lien against Privé "would leave no value for the estate and unsecured creditors in a Chapter 7 liquidation," Privé's filing said.
Attorneys for Harrah's have been pressuring Privé and the Living Room in their bankruptcy case to either pay their past-due rent and extra security expenses or vacate the premises.
Extra security was hired by Planet Hollywood for the clubs after incidents last year in which the clubs were temporarily closed for numerous violations of Clark County and Nevada Gaming Commission violations.
In a March court filing, Harrah's Planet Hollywood subsidiary said these included instances where:
--Privé personnel removed inebriated patrons and left them unattended in the Planet Hollywood casino in various states of consciousness
--Privé patrons used or were under the influence of controlled substances while at the club
--Privé patrons alleged Privé employees physically and sexually assaulted them
--Privé was cited by Clark County Department of Business License officials for allowing topless and lewd activity; and for failing to cooperate with agents
--Privé allowed minors to enter the clubs and served them alcohol
Besides the lease dispute with Planet Hollywood, Privé had suffered another setback in the bankruptcy case when Judge A. Jay Cristol ruled in January that contractors Sun City Electric and Midwest Drywall could pursue their lien lawsuits against Privé in state court.
Privé has reported that its cash sales in January totaled $752,703 and that after payment of expenses, including rent, it lost about $153,000 for the month.
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This is beginning to be a disturbing trend,BUT its all about discretionary income,and even the little rich kids dont have the money anymore
peace out
^ It's more than that with this place,bldblu.
"Prive has reported that its cash sales in January totaled $752,703"
heh heh heh...
i like milk.
"skim" milk.
There's now at least one "Temple of Trendiness" in every hotel/casino in town. No doubt, this one will not be at all missed!!
Night clubs are for idiots who want to pretend they are jet setters. The real jet set left Vegas a couple of years ago..
thank you enviro...even real jet setters are idiots...pretenders are super idiots
Comment removed by moderator. Post was in all caps.
Seriously doubting that anyone commenting above ^^^ has stepped foot in a nightclub since Paul Anka's Jubilation ...
RPJ,my friend owns a very nice nightclub,which I frequent a lot.Just not in Vegas.
Get em RPJ. Very True.
Stevem - hilarious!! something definitely came out off the top.
Total and utter mismanagement that occurred before Harrah's took it over is the cause of this.
The people that Opium hired were thugs who saw an opportunity to rake in that cash fast and loose with no one looking over their shoulder to make sure regulations and laws were followed. There was even reports where the management ripped off the employees by collecting all tips at the end of the night, going behind closed doors and doing this two-for-me, one-for-them goombah math to dole them out later; take it or leave it. The criminal element saturated that place from the beginning. And this not only included patrons, but people running the joint, who basically looked at everyone coming in there as victims waiting to happen, not to mention strong arming the employees.
They raped it dry and ran for the hills after they got found out and the nightclub and casino were both fined. It don't surprise me that no one from Opium nor Prive can be contacted to ask what happened. Money was their sole goal, not compliance nor safety of the patrons. They got it, ran away with it and they're not interested in answering any pointed questions. In the end, they left nothing but an empty, drained husk of a nightclub behind them.
ColinfromLasVegas is exactly correct.
As for RPJ I am relatively young (never seen Paul Anka) but I have been in a few nightclubs and was so turned off by obnoxious staff and aggressive and potentially violent patrons that I will never go back. I don't understand how this is fun for some people.
These places make strip clubs look like kindergarten. I'm glad Harrah's is shutting them down.
they're fun for most people because while there they talk to the opposite sex and try and get laid
Another bargain for Harrahs?
Wow, another "trendy" overpriced "club" bites the dust.
I will not miss it. Like the disco era of the 1970's, these clubs have run their course.
Time to replace them with some really good clubs that offer fine entertainment and value for the dollar. Toby Keith's (Harrah's) and B.B. King's (Mirage) come to mind as to what a "club" should be. Great music, great food, great people, fair prices.
The trendy clubs just attract the wannabe nothings foolish enough to stand in line for hours to get into an overcrowded room full of drunks and pay way to much for the "priveledge", so they can tell their friends back home hoe great it was. JerryWayne hit it on the head as to what these places are all about.
Prive>> inebriated patrons/left them unattended/used or were under the influence of controlled substances/employees physically and sexually assaulted/topless and lewd activity/allowed minors to enter the clubs and served them alcohol
Cuz that's how they 'roll' in Miami!!!
No surprise - they just brought a little South Beach to Las Vegas. These buzz-pimps will not be missed here -
Didn't this nightclub get leaned on hard by the federal agents (IRS) a while back around the same timeframe when Pure nightclub got temporarily shutdown a couple years ago ?
I wouldn't pay a $2 cover charge and hang with a bunch of fakeass wannabe's let alone a zero cover charge, ...even if these type of nightclubs were to pay me to hang in their establishment - I PAID TOO MUCH !
Crazy Horse sure learned from the Miami 'roll' business practices, as a few other business in town still practice this.
Definately a market to extract rich kids' money by providing the clubbin' image - but hey, it's their money.
<YAHNS>
Bakersfield- I completely agree. Well said.
Oh my God! "The Sun" is going to see to it that WizardofOz gets a new keyboard with LOWER case keys for once!! Thank you! (I just had to...)
Was in Las Vegas for four nights last week. Watched all the pimps giving "free" passes to the young ladies to the clubs. So that the men can go spend $300+ on a $20 bottle of booze trying to attract the young girls. Really sad. And yes I'm aware they are not marketing to me.
AKsilvereagle asked: "Didn't this nightclub get leaned on hard by the federal agents (IRS) a while back around the same timeframe when Pure nightclub got temporarily shutdown a couple years ago ?"
I kind of know that answer, but I may get some of the facts wrong.
The simple answer is no, but some of the same people were involved.
IRS raided the Pure Club, run by the PMG (Pure Management Group) at Caesar's Palace I believe around 2006. The reason they raided it was because it was alleged that club raked in money and none of it was reported (by law) as taxable income to the Federal Government. I believe charges are still pending and it is still being investigated. Even computers at PMG were confiscated.
Two of the controversial managers working at Pure at the time left that club. They went to another club: Prive run by Opium (from Miami) at Planet Hollywood.
Same thing. Raking in that money fast and loose without a care in the world for legality.
This time, they got found out because law enforcement (Metro) had an unusual high number of complaints regarding Prive and criminal behavior. And a lot of the complaints involved Prive not following rules and laws, which helped to contribute to this high volume of criminal offenses occurring.
Prive ended up being investigated, had their liquor license yanked and not only Prive, but also Planet Hollywood were heavily fined. Prive, to this day, is only operating under a temporary liquor license.
So, the answer to your question is, it was the same people involved. And they make money off of mismanagement and criminal behavior in exploiting this "beautiful people" 20-30 year old want-to-be-with-the-in-crowd-people-in-Las-Vegas-Sin-City thing.
The yanking of the liquor license and fine at Prive was a wake up call. Not only to them, but to ALL clubs in casinos: Run it right or face the consequences.
But here's the sad thing: Those managers from Pure did their thing, abandoned it, then went to Prive, ran the same game, AGAIN abandoned it and moved on, and at this present time, have now moved on and are working at another club on the Strip. I believe somewhere in City Center.
As you can see, they try to operate under the radar. But when they are revealed, they move on. THIS is how they thrive. They bend the rules and laws, don't have any care for the patrons, make that money, make it fast, then when they are found out, run, find another place. Until somebody clamps down on them. The trend is there and it remains unbroken. But when it gets revealed, BAM! All the people disappear and make themselves unavailable for comment.
In the meantime? Look for more victims who will end up getting ripped off.
Sorry. Kind of long there, but all of this information is readily found out by articles and comments to blogs in Las Vegas media.