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Thursday, Aug. 12, 2010 | 3:58 p.m.
Sun Archives
Map of Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino
Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino
3950 S. Las Vegas Blvd., Las Vegas
Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas has won the right to evict the Rumjungle nightclub there and the club is now closed.
The club closed Monday and Mandalay Bay is evaluating new concepts for the space. It likely will be a restaurant/lounge concept, Gordon Absher, spokesman for Mandalay Bay owner MGM Resorts International, said Thursday.
Rumjungle employees worked for Rumjungle’s parent company, not Mandalay Bay. Employees displaced by the closure and interested in working elsewhere on the property are encouraged to apply through the company website, Absher said.
A spokesman for Rumjungle’s owners didn't have an immediate comment on the closure.
Mandalay Bay and Rumjungle’s owner have been engaged in litigation for two years over Mandalay Bay’s claim that Rumjungle is behind on rent; and Rumjungle’s claim that actions by Mandalay Bay have caused financial problems for the club.
Particularly, Rumjungle claims Mandalay Bay’s opening of the eyecandy lounge violated the lease agreement allowing Rumjungle to be the lone nightclub at the 3,211-room casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip.
On March 16, Rumjungle filed for bankruptcy protection to block its eviction, but attorneys for MGM Resorts International later managed to have the bankruptcy case thrown out.
Then, on June 28, Mandalay Bay moved to evict the 20,000-square-foot Rumjungle and even chained the doors closed, but a judge issued a restraining order allowing Rumjungle to temporarily stay in its leased space.
That episode was followed by two days of hearings in Clark County District Court on the issue and a ruling issued Aug. 6 by Judge Kathleen Delaney.
"Rumjungle has failed to provide sufficient evidence that Mandalay’s actions in renovating an existing casino lounge to operate an ultra-lounge constitutes a violation of Rumjungle’s exclusive rights to operate a nightclub," an order signed by Delaney says. "Rumjungle has failed to provide sufficient evidence to show that its failure to pay any `percentage rent’ under the lease was related to Mandalay’s operation of its lounge and not attributable in whole or in part to other factors, including, but not limited to, outside competition and the general economic downturn in Las Vegas."
Court records show Rumjungle was obligated to pay both minimum rent and percentage rent.
The percentage rent clause in the lease allowed Mandalay Bay to terminate the lease should Rumjungle fail to generate sufficient cash flow so that 60 percent of that annual cash flow would total $1.1 million in rent.
"For 2009, the 11th lease year, Mandalay did not receive $1.1 million in percentage rent. In fact, Mandalay received no percentage rent from Rumjungle for the 11th lease year," Delaney’s order said.
In granting Mandalay Bay’s motion for a preliminary injunction, Delaney barred Rumjungle officers and employees from interfering with Mandalay Bay’s re-entering of the premises and ordered that they cannot be on the premises without Mandalay Bay’s authorization.
She also ordered Mandalay Bay to post a $100,000 bond as security for the entry of the preliminary injunction.
Rumjungle immediately appealed Delaney’s ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court. The $100,000 bond posted by Mandalay Bay could cover potential damages sustained by Rumjungle should Delaney’s ruling be overturned or Rumjungle prevails in the underlying lawsuit.
Rumjungle has complained it spent $10 million to build out the nightclub and that its investment may now be wiped out – while attorneys for Mandalay Bay have argued that instead of paying percentage rent since 2007, Rumjungle has been using that money to unnecessarily file for bankruptcy and to litigate against Mandalay Bay.
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I hope they bring in a chain something. Those seem to be popular and I really like how they can make me feel like I'm in Debuque, Iowa, even when I'm in Des Plaines or Phoenix or Las Vegas. Maybe a Bennigan's or Ruby Tuesdays. And it would be the biggest in the country, most likely, so it would give people a reason to come to Las Vegas. I can just see it now: Stay at Mandalay Bay and visit the largest (insert chain-restaurant name here) and have the same mediocre food you can get back home!
Rumjungle did not reinvent themselves nor did they change the layout and design of their club to be competitive. If they were smart they would have sold it to Light Group or Pure Management Group. Those two companies have good relationships with MGM International. More clubs will be going down soon. First it was Prive now Rumjungle...Rok will be next.
RumJungle was wack!!!
VEGAS IS GOING UNDER!!!!!
Not really, just wanted to fit in with the "Citizens Against Virtually Everything" (CAVE) group that runs things around here.
Las Vegas9 is exactly right! I liked this place when they first opened, but... didn't keep up.
When 20-something year-olds are putting 2k on their credit cards in one night in order to hang out in these places, something's gotta give. And this place is still behind in rent?!?
I say to blazes with all of these juvenile so called nightclubs, and lets put the focus back where it belongs, THE CASINOS!
That is a HUGE loss. Just wait when the space is takem over they will spend a million dollars to remodel and change it even though it is cool as hell. Sad.
How about a Five Guys?
I have to agree with smartone618. There are so many comments on almost all of these articles regarding how Vegas is done, no way it can bounce back and how great it was in the good old days. I would prefer us to take a positive approach - think positive, see how a lost opportunity for one person is an opportunity for another. I love Vegas and find it discouraging to read the negative comments. When the owners of Rum Jungle went into business, they knew the risks. Was it the economy that caused them to go under? Or was it bad management? Or poor marketing...etc. I don't know, and although I am sorry that people lost their jobs, a new venue will open that will hire and hopefully be successful. Lets look at the good now and then, it is so easy to be negative.
enviro... I agree. The ONE thing Vegas has that riverboats, and Indian casinos do not have, is an entire town designed around gambling. I believe that Vegas took a wrong turn and it lost its focus when gambling was no longer the main reason to come .
you know what was amusing... Rumjungle was advertising on craigslist for security positions not even a week ago.....
What? Gambling was the main reason? Crickey, I was wrong all of those years...
Eye Candy club sucks....not only are the drinks double price as Rum Jungle, but the service is horrible....plus the location is in the middle of the casino, so it gets over dominated by the table games. Mandalay Bay lacks thought and proper planning.....time for new management .... This use to be the crown jewel of The Mandalay Corporation.....don't screw it up and turn it into another City Center art deco hotel.
Finally when the hookers have just learned to know where to show up, they close the doors.
good riddance. that place SUCKED.
It is all about service and how you treat people. The club missed on both. The tail no longer wags the dog!
Smartone & Ozias - you have to look at the demographic of the typical sun blogger. Retired, geriatric, bitter
The focus of Vegas has always been gambling. It just so happens the Clubs made every female 20 something want to come here as well.
New clubs open, stagnant ones go out of business. This is nothing new. Just like everything in Vegas - hotels, restaurants, casinos, clubs - they all eventually cannibalize each other.
Oh My goodness, I've been in Rum Jungle many times but only once for dancing. Their food is fabulous!!!
Another overpriced "trendy" 20 something hangout closes. They will not be missed at all. All these places do is pay some young "celebrity" that most of us have never heard of to be there for a night so all of the customers can go home to wherever and say "I partied with......" Even though they probably never got close enough to them to say hello. But they did get shaken down for hundreds (thousands) of dollars for the priveledge. The choices for overpriced drinks and "bottle service" declined by one. Good riddance. Bring back the old style lounge like they used to have at the Sands or Flamingo in the days.
The $13 a bottle water restaurant in the Venetian closes. Then the Wasted Space at Hard Rock. Now this. You think people may be figuring that much of high end Vegas is a rip off?
Tom Shermspun
The Great Ruins of Las Vegas Tour (on Facebook)
Last time I tried to go here, the bouncer made me wait 45 minutes. I left. They thought they were hot. I went somewhere else. They lost, I am a big tipper and loose with my money. Ha Ha suckers
Good points made Bakersfield. Go back to having some lounges in the hotels with excellent "free" entertainment which will bring more people in to gamble.
As much as people want to point fingers and feel good about this restaurant closing, what is important to remember is that 40+ people are now out of work in an Las Vegas economy (because it isn't the same as the American economy) that is dipping into desperation. Good luck to the Rum Jungle employees finding work, I hope someone will be there to be you out.
Oh and @lp, anyone who says they are a big tipper and is loose with their money is full of crap, if you want to seem like a "baller," have a little modesty in the future and let your actions speak louder than your words on a online blog. Thx
It's been a dead dog for years !!! Time to raise the bar !!!
@piratepk-
"This use to be the crown jewel of The Mandalay Corporation.....don't screw it up and turn it into another City Center art deco hotel."
Mandalay Resorts other hot spots being Luxor, Excalibur, and Circus Circus. Not hard to be a "crown jewel" in that lineup.
Oh, and CityCenter is "art deco"? Really? I'd say it's about as art deco as Caesar's is minimalist. I'd say you know about as much about art and design as Rod Blagojevich knows about ethics, modesty, and restraint.
Most of the Clubs make their profit in the first year and move on or reopen to a new theme or new something to attract the 18to34. In summer the indoor clubs dont fare well. Generally speaking these Clubs are waste of money and time.
JerryWayne is on point with his "... Retired, geriatric, bitter ..." comment.
I'm not old enough to be retired, but it sounds better than unemployed. Bitter, yes I am, definately bitter.
I think the expensive, look-at-me clubs have served Vegas well, and will continue to do so. 20-somethings want to hook-up, the clubs give them a shot. The good clubs will survive, the marginal ones will turn into sports books, like Wasted Space.
The problem with that is there are too many 20-somethings that no longer have the bucks to drop in these clubs. The baby boomers have the money to spend and they don't care for the clubs.