2009

Friday, June 11, 2010 | 9:55 a.m.

Big stories

Unemployment – At the beginning of 2009, officials warned that Nevada’s jobless rate could top 10 percent. By April 2010, the rate would hit 13.7 percent in Nevada and 14.2 percent in Las Vegas.

M Resort – The $700 million property with a casino and 351 rooms opened in March at the far south end of Las Vegas Boulevard.

Bankruptcies – Rhodes Homes, Consolidated Resorts, the Fontainebleau resort and Station Casinos filed for bankruptcy protection. Bankruptcy cases were already under way for Herbst Gaming and Tropicana Entertainment.

Hotel Room Expansion – Even before the opening of CityCenter, expansions at the Hard Rock, Golden Nugget and the opening of PH Towers at PlanetHollywood increased the city’s room count.

CityCenter – The $8.5 billion resort complex began to open Dec. 1.

Notable Q&As

Pat Mulroy, Southern Nevada Water Authority general manager, was asked about opposition to the plan to pipe water from the Great Basin National Park area to Las Vegas.

“It’s political. It’s Northern Nevada versus Southern Nevada, old Nevada versus new Nevada, rural Nevada versus urban Nevada, and all those factors make this politically very difficult,’’ she said.

Award winning journalism

Nevada Press Association awards won in 2009

First Place

• Best Business Coverage

• Best Illustration – Chris Morris

Second Place

• Best Local Column – Brian Wargo

• Best Overall Design

• Best Information Graphic – Chris Morris

• Best Special Section (Advertising)

40 Under 40: Where are they now?

Stephen Siegel: Class of 2009

Siegel was honored in 2009 when he served as founder and chief executive officer of The Siegel Group, and continues in that role today.

He founded the company in 2001 and has continued to buy up real estate and holdings across Southern Nevada. When he was recognized in 2009, he had acquired a 132-unit apartment building and grew it into a portfolio that included 18 multiresidential apartment complexes with 3,500 units branded under the Siegel Suites business model. He also had just acquired the Gold Spike hotel-casino and The Resort on Mount Charleston at the time.

Since then, he has acquired The Artisan and The Rumor properties and a variety of other bars, restaurants and nightclubs.

He was named Las Vegas’ Citizen of the Month in March 2009 by the city council, and was selected Las Vegas’ Best Entrepreneur by Las Vegas Weekly in 2010.