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Monday, March 8, 2010 | 9:50 a.m.
Sun Archives
- 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 new owner of the Planet Hollywood resort in Las Vegas has been pressuring the bankrupt Privé and Living Room nightclubs there to either pay their past-due rent and expenses or vacate the premises.
Owned by Miami nightclub company the Opium Group, Privé and Living Room filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Nov. 11 in Florida.
Since then, Harrah's Entertainment Inc. of Las Vegas has acquired Planet Hollywood and Harrah's has been agitating in the bankruptcy case that it be paid for past-due rent and extra security expenses.
Extra security was hired by Planet Hollywood for the clubs after a scandal last year in which the clubs were temporarily closed for numerous violations of Clark County and Nevada Gaming Commission violations.
In a court filing last week, 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
The Gaming Commission initially sought to fine Planet Hollywood's then-owner, OpBiz, $750,000, but that was later reduced to $500,000.
OpBiz then modified the lease with Privé, requiring the club owner to re-pay OpBiz toward the fine with a payment of $125,000 due last June and five monthly payments of $50,000 after that.
Harrah's said in court papers that Privé is in default on its lease because it has made just one of the $50,000 payments; has failed to reimburse Planet Hollywood for $12,388 in extra security costs; has failed to pay all the rent due for January, February and March; and has allowed construction liens totaling $1.433 million to pile up against the property.
Court records indicate Privé has been paying about $85,000 per month in rent.
The bankruptcy judge in the case, A. Jay Cristol, on Jan. 14 ruled that contractors Sun City Electric and Midwest Drywall can pursue their lien lawsuits against Privé in state court.
The Harrah's court papers were filed in response to Privé's motion that it be granted a 90-day extension to decide whether to maintain its lease with Planet Hollywood or cancel the lease and move out of the resort. Thursday of this week is the initial deadline for a decision on the lease.
An attorney for Harrah's argued against an extension, saying in court papers: "A critical factor is whether the debtors have complied with their post (bankruptcy) petition obligations, and they have not."
"If the debtors are unable to pay their post-petition obligations, are they able to reorganize? Will landlord be damaged as a result of debtors' continued occupation? Are the debtors seeking outside financing? Do the debtors have a business plan? Have the debtors explored the possibility of relocating to more reasonably-priced property? Are the debtors simply looking to extend the life of a cash-oriented business while they fail to pay rent, security, or their mechanics’ liens?," Harrah's filing said.
"The debtors should be required to either assume the lease and promptly cure all defaults, or reject the lease and vacate the premises," said the brief filed by Miami attorney Geoffrey Aaronson.
But attorneys for Privé indicated in court papers the company hasn't yet decided whether to remain in Planet Hollywood.
"If the debtors successfully reorganize, they anticipate asking this court for approval to assume the leases," Privé attorneys said in a filing.
Cristol, during a hearing last week, rejected Privé's request for a 90-day extension but gave the company an extra 30 days to decide on the lease.
Privé attorneys, in a motion filed Friday, indicated a hearing would be scheduled so they could argue for the full 90-day extension, not just the 30 days granted last week.
Privé is also seeking a 120-day extension from Thursday's deadline for the right to exclusively file a plan of reorganization.
"The debtors are currently pursuing reorganization options and until such alternatives are fully explored, the debtors cannot decide upon the path which will realize the greatest value to creditors," Privé attorneys said in Friday's filing.
"The (potential) assumption of this lease will be the linchpin of any Chapter 11 plan and such assumption will be addressed as part of the debtors' overall reorganization," Privé said in its request filed by Miami attorneys Robert Schatzman and Steven Solomon.
Separately, Privé filed a financial report showing its cash sales in January totaled $752,703 and that after payment of expenses, including rent, it lost about $153,000 for the month.
Catering to the young and modern crowd, Planet Hollywood is a one-stop shop for entertainment with its massive shopping mall, slew of restaurants, spacious casino and clubs.
The ambiance of the casino is retro-chic meets high-tech with black granite floors throughout and colorful LED lights throughout the space. The theme carries into the 100,000 square-foot casino with 250 flat screens topping off slot machines. The casino is also home to 87 tables, a sports book and a poker room.
There's also the Miracle Mile Shops, one Vegas' largest malls, with 140 stores including BCBG Max Azaria, bebe, Urban Outfitters and The Discovery Channel Store.
Following an afternoon of shopping, guests can satisfy their appetites at one of the gourmet restaurants in Planet Hollywood, like the non-traditional approach to steakhouses at Strip House or check out the exotic Far East motif at KOI restaurant and lounge. And if guests are still looking for more, they can spend the after hours at Privé, Triq or Krave nightclubs.
Perhaps one of the resorts biggest attractions came in March with the addition of "Peepshow." The naughty twist on the story of Little Bo Peep is modern-day spin on the run-of-the-mill Vegas topless review. The "Peepshow" stage has seen visiting celebs like Scary Spice Mel B, "Dancing with the Stars" Kelly Monaco and Playboy's Holly Madison.
Goodbye Prive' won't miss you at all. My guess is the underage patrons they served alcohol to were all female? Real classy.
This place has to make 900K a month just to break even, wow. That's a lot of $20 cocktails. Harrah's will replace this dump with something that turns a profit and doesn't have it's bouncers fondling the intoxicated guests. Figures it would be run by a Miami nightclub group.
This is not the time for SNAZZZZ. Perhaps another time, another place.
Yes, the greedy Harrah's Corporation. Slum landlords of the casino industry. Give them 6 months and they'll run the place into the ground like they do with all their properties. They did it at Bally's and Paris now they have a new toy to ruin and bankrupt. If I were those businesses I would find another casino to open up in. Harrah's has a habit of turning customers off or attracting only the low-life customers.
darn, now where am I going to go pay $800 for a bottle of grey goose vodka?
You say low life customers. Key word being customers, which means they are spending money in this little town. Those "low life" ones are still generating revenue.
I'll get you a bottle for $500. Haha! I agree with you!
After eviction, these clubs can join the many thousands of Americans now in tent cities...
Evicted clubs space would make conversion condos for those forclosed out of houses / only fair -- saw a cool site; Balkingpoints ; incredible satellite view of earth
To the workers of prive', Welcome to Harrah's world.
HARRAHS DEFAULTED, I MEAN RESTRUCTURED THEIR 27 BILLION DOLLAR LOAN, BUT THEY REFUSE TO WORK SOMETHING OUT WITH THEIR TENNANTS. THEY WILL RUN PLANET HOLLYWOOD INTO THE GROUND. THAT I PROMISE.
"Harrah's said in court papers that Prive is in default on its lease because it has made just one of the $50,000 payments; has failed to reimburse Planet Hollywood for $12,388 in extra security costs; has failed to pay all the rent due for January, February and March; and has allowed construction liens totaling $1.433 million to pile up against the property"
mrjb:
So the past due payments are Harrah's fault? The club is in default through no one's fault but their own. Harrah's has a right to collect the past due amounts owed.
Game Over. Step aside.
bring in jersey shore or whatever that gay looking mtv show is
Be careful of hangin' out in the Harrah's properties. In my opinion, they are very lax at security and let con-men run loose on their properties because they don't check for room keys at places like Bally's, even at nite!
These two clubs have been nothing but trouble since the day they opened. I say Harrahs close 'em down and kick 'em out!!
They might be spending money in this town 89109 but the employees at the casino can do without their sorry attitudes, BS, and foul language. MOst of them are trailer trash.
Harrahs wants others to pay what is owed, but balk at paying their own debts. How ironic. Why would anyone want to do business with Harrahs, or any other gaming company that renigs on their debt?
I wish I could just skip out on my mortgage and still be able to chill in my house rent-free. Lol...
$900k a month...ouch! So,how much is a bottle of goose going for in LV these days?
"My guess is the underage patrons they served alcohol to were all female? Real classy."
It's also real classy to manufacture a conclusion and then cast judgment based on the conclusion you just manufactured.
I'm sure no under-21 females (or males, for that matter) ever go into any other clubs, bars or restaurants anywhere in the nation and get served.
It's time to lower the drinking age or raise the voting and military age. C'mon, America. You all want to ACT like childhood lasts forever, but that attitude doesn't play out in the real world. Grow up.
How many great clubs does Harrahs own or are even on their properties? PURE doesn't count, it's a has been. Whatever they replace it with won't be too much better.
From what I hear, this type of behaviour goes on at all clubs in town.
One can only wonder why Prive was targeted.........
It the pot calling the kettle black. Harrahs wants their cake and eat it to.
These ultra lounge/ night clubs whatever you want to call them are a waste of money and time. Bring back the classy Vegas lounges with the free entertainment and cheap drinks! At least the players and high class call girls will have a place off the casino floor to meet and greet without all the noise and drunk college students , wannabe jet setters and oily euro trash drug dealers.
Prive' -January Gross: $752,000 Rent - $85,000 = $667,000. Okay, let's say 30 employees x $25 per hour (+/-) you have a monthly payroll of $120k. This number is probably 25% MORE than the actual payroll because the club did not operate 40 hours per week, nor did they pay everyone 25 bucks per hour. >> $547,000 to keep the lights on and make some contractor payments and they claim another $153,000 on-top of that!
I bet there are all kinds of salaries and consultancies paid to the Opium Group. They will stiff the lease and contractors and walk away with suitcases full of cash.
Before Prive' and the Opium Group - there was a long-in- the-tooth, male-model with a few silent investors from the club-scene in Paris. Theses Euros started with a restaurant and a small nightclub on South Beach with a sea of super models and cocaine. With a 7 night/5 AM liquor license, money was made by the truckload. These cats hit Miami at the right time - early 1990's and at the very beginning of a 20 year real estate, jet-set, club-scene explosion. Before Miami it was Paris - now, if you operated one of the top nightclubs in Paris, you must have the right connections with the black leather jacket, Walther PPK, Mercedes 600 crowd - and I don't mean the poser Las Vegas types. I bet they have already a fat ROI on Prive' and will walk away and stiff the contractors and lease.
Harrah's deserves anything they get! They chose to bring in these low-life clubs and the trash that go there. The problem is the trash spills over into the casino and they have run off many of the customers with money to gamble with. They treat the front-line employees like trash and management does nothing about it. Caesars has to have Metro on property on the nights these clubs operate. What does that tell you? These greedy corporations want every dollar in every genre of business and it makes no difference how you get it. Screw you Harrah's- Wal-Mart of gaming! It will be the biggest party in Las Vegas the day Apollo sells their Vegas properties. Hit the road and take your trash with you!!
The gaming industry will lead us to Sodom and Gomorrah.
Why do I get the impression these mega-property owners are giving a transfusion to an amputated system?
These big casinos are simply TOO BIG. They create tons of garbage, huge traffic pie-ups and if walk through tourists do not stop by and gamble but simply stroll through the casino you could get the impression as if you're somewhere in New York City or in Rio. I saw a few videos of old style Las Vegas, showing the 60s and 70s. Vegas was a wonderful place visiting. I wished we could turn back the clock and live the good old times once again...
From Switzerland
Are the other nightclubs on the strip making money?
The Gaming commission should never have allowed Harrah's to be bought out by the hedge fund. All hedge funds look to do is make a quick buck and leave! They could care less about the long-term or the employees!
What a frightening thought - 18 year olds drinking legally. Most 21 year olds(and older) aren't mature enough to be responsible drinkers. (or are all the stupid people in casino clubs!) And anybody DUMB enough to pay $800 for a bottle of Grey Goose at any casino club is an idiot! Next time y'all want to pay that much for a quart bottle, give me a call and I'll bring you a gallon of Grey Goose for $800 and I'll keep the change! hahaha
I agree with user 89109, low life customers bring a large portion of revenue to LV. Be thankful they still come! If guests still want to stay at run down places (like the ones Harrahs owns) than more power to them! Now days the reality is that people can not afford what they use to be able to afford.
The reason there are so many mega-nightclubs is because of greedy minded people. There is more money in nightlife than in any other hotel operation. I think it is safe to say that those in the nightlife industry are the lucky few that have not been hit tragically by the current economy.
I worked for Harrahs for two weeks... worst two weeks of my life.
Oh and one more thing to everyone who keeps calling Prive's owners European: they are Brazilian... from Brazil... not Europe. Different continent.
The Opium Group from Miami,Who's next? Heroin Group from Newark?
If Paris is in Brazil then I guess we got it wrong
http://www.theopiumgroup.com/
Harrah's Entertainment, the company that performed numerous illegal remodels at their various hotels, which left every single room that they touched unsafe for the public to stay in for a period spanning more than a decade - they did this knowingly & willfully showing no concern for either their "valued" Guests or employees. The rooms were "public fire safety traps"...Harrah's by their own hand created the potential for another MGM Grand Fire disaster - INTENTIONALLY! Harrah's is still fixing what they screwed up - 2.5 years later, and from what I have been told by insiders the repairs will continue at least into next year and very possibly into 2012!
Folks the story doesn't end here unfortunately, because Harrah's also exposed, at a minimum, tens of thousands of their Hotel Guests, construction workers and hotel employees to ASBESTOS, a known carcinogenic during the course of many of their illegal & some legal remodels - knowingly, intentionally, and willfully! Harrah's management knew that the ASBESTOS was there, they knew the laws regarding the removal of asbestos and the safety measures that are required to be taken, but to save money and time Harrah's endangered ALL OF OUR LIVES because of their GREED...because of their precious bottom line.
I ask is this what a responsible Gaming Company does? How does one get away with blatantly putting all of us in harms way without being held responsible for their, at the very least, Harrah's WILLFUL Gross Negligence? I forgot, we are in Las Vegas, and "What happens in Las Vegas, Stays in Las Vegas." It doesn't stop here though...Harrah's Entertainment cheated the IRS by willfully evading taxes. If I could get the IRS interested in actually auditing Harrah's with the specific information that WE can put forth...maybe Harrah's Management team will be enjoying the comfort of Bubba's loving touch for years to come as they truly deserve. It is amazing the information that one can gather when a company such as Harrah's cares so little for their employees. GARY LOVEMAN, you have forgotten one of the golden rules: "Actions speak much louder than words." - and Harrah's actions have spoken volumes.
Ben Roethlisberger loves Prive. :)
I will never again stay at a Harrahs Property. My last visit to one of their properties was at Paris last year.
When PH took over the Aladdin I stopped going there. It just became corrupt. It was obvious. I felt bad for the good employees who worked there. But when the bottom line is more important than reputation or anything else then reputation kills the bottom line. And now it becomes another rat-hole Harrahs property. Vegas is dying for a reason and it isn't soley the economy. Start looking at the gaming commission. Start looking at the changing odds. When a business raises margin to cover lower volume it dies in a vicious cycle. Wake up neighbors, we are going to have to start paying a lot of taxes to cover the fact that nobody is looking out for the reputation of Las Vegas. We are now the Wall Street greed and self importance of the financial firms that almost took down America for individual personal gain. I know, most of you must think I'm full of it....
Hope for Vegas is on the way.