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The view from the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas, approximately one hour before the hotel would close its doors Sunday afternoon. As a result of the Ritz-Carlton’s closure, more than 350 people will be out of work.
Sunday, May 2, 2010 | 3:40 p.m.
Sun Archives
- Part of MonteLago Village Resort at Lake Las Vegas gets new owner (4-16-2010)
- Bankrupt Lake Las Vegas targeting former investors (4-12-2010)
- Residents of Lake Las Vegas told recovery on the way (4-9-2010)
- Wide-open fairways at Lake Las Vegas (3-31-2010)
- Casino’s closure brings mixed outlooks on Lake Las Vegas (3-15-2010)
- Lake Las Vegas: A shining lakeside oasis loses its luster (3-1-2010)
- Population dearth doomed Casino MonteLago at Lake Las Vegas (3-1-2010)
- Casino MonteLago at Lake Las Vegas to close next month (2-16-2010)
- Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas to close in May (2-8-2010)
- Lake Las Vegas proposes bankruptcy plan (9-5-2009)
- Judge approves bankruptcy for Lake Las Vegas golf course (6-29-2009)
- Another golf course to close at struggling Lake Las Vegas (6-25-2009)
- Residents of bankrupt Lake Las Vegas face uncertainty (3-23-2009)
For hotel patrons, Sunday morning at the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas felt like any other. Rich aromas of syrup and dough wafted up from the Medici Café and Terrace, and families wandered the hotel’s halls and courtyard.
But this Sunday morning was different. At noon, the Ritz-Carlton would close its doors.
“I think it was an anchor for Lake Las Vegas,” said Eric Villarreal, 37, of Las Vegas, who stayed at the hotel on its final night. “It seems like bigger places like this support smaller businesses here.”
Villarreal said he saw few other patrons at the hotel on its last night, but the lack of customers didn’t seem to affect the hotel’s services.
“You wouldn’t notice that it was their last day,” he said. “It’s impressive.”
The 15-acre, 348-room luxury hotel opened Feb. 11, 2003. The Ritz-Carlton announced Feb. 8 that it would close May 2.
More than 350 people lost their jobs as a result of the closure. Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman Vivian Deuschl said efforts are being made to relocate employees to other hotels in the Las Vegas Valley.
“While the closing has obviously made everybody sad, it hasn’t taken away any of the determination,” she said.
Mary Musso, 57, of Henderson, stayed at the hotel Saturday night. She said the service was exceptional and she was saddened by the hotel’s closure.
Musso suggested the city offer tax breaks to potential buyers of the property. The support of the Ritz-Carlton would aid all businesses at Lake Las Vegas, she said.
“Now is the time they will have to band together,” she said. “The City of Henderson owes it to the residents.”
Nicole Caples, 37, of Las Vegas, stayed with Musso at the hotel Saturday night. She said she wished the city and hotel had done a better job of advertising Ritz-Carlton to locals, many of whom she said would have jumped at the opportunity for a “staycation.”
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “But [it is] an oasis dead in the desert.”
Lake Las Vegas is in bankruptcy, burdened with $728 million in liabilities.
During an April 8 meeting hosted by Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak at Loews Lake Las Vegas, Lake Las Vegas Chief Operating Officer Jim Coyne said the development is expected to emerge from bankruptcy by the end of June.
The Casino MonteLago at Lake Las Vegas closed at midnight March 14. More than 170 people lost their jobs as a result.
Marco Tencanera, a manager at Luna Rossa, an Italian restaurant at Lake Las Vegas, said he has noticed little change in business since the Casino MonteLago’s closure. But, he said, he isn’t sure what effect the Ritz-Carlton’s closure will have on the community.
“We’ll just have to find out,” he said. “Come back in two weeks and I’ll let you know.”
Deuschl said the company has received several calls from people with an interest in the Ritz-Carlton property. All inquiries have been forwarded to Deutsche Bank, which owns the resort.
Amy Moser-Harrison, director of sales and marketing for the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas, said there would be an employees-only ceremony Sunday in which they would lower the flag in front of the hotel, then part ways.
“There is not any pomp and circumstance,” she said.
Sad day for sure for the hotel and the employees. Hopefully, the announcement of who is buying the property will be made soon. Many rumors are out there, including Steve Wynn.
That sucks for the employees,for sure. But on the up-side,I'm sure having work experience at a Ritz Carlton property looks great on a resume. I'm sure there will still be a skeleton crew there for security.
Exceptional property with great employees. Truly a 5 star resort. Deutsche Bank decided to put their efforts into the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas project. However, hopefully this beautiful property will emerge in another form and find success. My best wishes to all the great people who worked to make the Ritz an oasis in the desert.
I felt that Lake Las Vegas was built for the rich but there were many who would of patronized Lake Las Vegas if it were affordable and advertised as such. I been out there twice and found it to be a very pleasant location . The Ritz Carlton only caters to an exclusive group and there are not enough of that group locally. I hope the next group that runs Lake Las Vegas makes it a place that's receptive to more of the population.
@Dipstick, you sure live up to your name. I'm not old, but your silly comments sure are old and tired. Still happy as a claim here. Always will be. The Ritz closing is old news and discussed at nausem in prior posts. I've already said all I have to say in those posts.
With emerging from bankruptcy next month, LLV is turning a positive corner.
I hope that all of the well trained and superior employees at the Ritz found other jobs and maybe come back to the property when the new owners take over. Best of luck to them and a big thanks for all of their hard work.
Viva Lake Las Vegas.
It's too bad that business decisions were made without long term projections for the economy. I see that many blame Sen. Reid for this ? LOL Whether you like Reid or not, he certainly is not at fault here, he is not that powerful. Maybe the Chinese would be interested in buying it to headquarter their workers for the wind turbine factory they will build here ? Since Wynn is moving operations to China, wouldn't it be fitting ? Obama is too Socialist, but China the Communists are just right.
dhvincent1
Why is everything about Harry Reid?
"Seen", not "scene."
Yeah, sorry we overbuilt.
Saturday night, we held a get-together with a bunch of former Casino Monte Lago employees at a former customer's classy place at South Shore. Everybody's moving on, life continues, but it's a shame that so many people's lives are torn apart. Starting over ain't easy, but it's a fact of life.
I think everyone needs to go through this once. Especially our public loafers, like the overpaid and under worked fire people. Not fighters, not men, just undereducated slobs who knew the right people. I will miss my friends from Casino Monte Lago.
Stephen Siegel and the Siegel group should swoop in and pick up this property for a song. They should be able to transform it to a weekly apartment facility or make it into a boutique hotel facility with very little investment.
That's just what Lake Las Vegas needs: a flexible stay (weekly) apartment hotel.
old bouvier is still happy as a clam. awesome.
Thank you harry Reid. Your 4 years of running the US Senate has been a total disaster. Your leadership ends in November.
LLV needs to be built for the populace, not the rich. Many large city have thriving waterfront commerce, but I don't know one that caters mostly to the rich. LLV has a future, but it'll take leaders with a different vision.
Fabulous property!!! My finacee and I spent many a nights at the bar there, while our house was being built at Bella Fiore. Ashame that it is closing...truly a beautiful place...I feel sad for the employees as well.
For all you guys who blame Obama, Reid, McCann, Bush, etc, etc..you need to study the case gainst Credit Suisse and Duetche Bank..THEY ARE THE ONES THAT HAVE TANKED LLV !! And yet, none of the sleezy bankers have gone to jail..including CS who was using the funds from LLV to fund the Iran Nuke Program!!! The Montana Judge was right in his review!!
I am sorry for these poor unfortunate souls. I hope they find work as soon as possible and I wish them a lot of luck.
I thought the recession was over, and there are all these jobs out there for the taking?
I feel for the 350 employees who will be joing us in the unemployment lines.
The view from the window pictured above shows a little of Lake Tahoe's South Shore Line and a lot of Italy. The lacking factor here at this splendid resort is the Holly factor and the salt bags that Robin Leach writes about but after every word that Robin writes the salt has to come from somewhere to fill the salt bags with saline solution for Holly's plumpness.
As one who has been there on the "last day" of a business closing, twice, It isn't going to be fun for those 350. Some will find something right away, but it's hard to find work in an industry that has laid off a lot more than it's hired lately. (Again, been there twice, but in a different industry). The problem with that location, most tourists want to stay "where the action is" and locals have little need for a $200 a night hotel room.
Should still be some work for the landscape maintenance. The place looks beautiful.
Why does anyone think there will be a buyer for this? If the hotel can't make it with the full force of Marriott marketing it and Hyatt couldn't make it across the way with their built in marketing muscle, why does anyone think there is a market for a different, decidedly worse hotel operator?
Art where is BlondeinGV???? I need some entertainment.
This is where we usually get a bunch of hyped up post about how everything is great and getting better---"sales are way up", "selling like hotcakes" and we have "turned the corner" from all the bored condo sales people and the stuck upside down suckers (i mean owners) at llv. None of these people will get on full time anywhere--all new hires are extra board and part time help--if your lucky to get on somewhere. I wish these people good luck finding work. The next 18 months as all these 5/1 arms reset at llv we should finally find the bottom in about 2 years, and it is much lower than current prices.
Great hotel that will be picked up by someone soon. The quality put into this hotel does not scream for a bottom feeder like Seigel to come in. He does not have the experience to play in the 4 & 5 star hotel arena. This will be a good buy for someone who wants to make it a Westin or Marriott and it will work. Someone will need to step in for the casino to fill that void. Hope that the banks make these transactions possible instead of letting these good products fade away.
Lake Las Vegas just needs to continue to ramp up their marketing to get locals to buy into coming all the way out there and to spread the word. The fact that the Loews is charging $175 plus on weekends does not scream that they are hurting too bad.
I can not wait for the golf course to come back some day, among the best courses in all Southern Nevada that was just mismanaged into the ground with the expansion of the secondary course. I would not give up on Lake Las Vegas and just hope some people with vision will get involved sooner rather than later.
What a beautiful property... I wish these workers well in all being relocated to other hotels.
In previous comments I see that this area was built for the rich. I didn't realize that when I purchased my house at 30 cents on the dollar. I may be out of my element or maybe need the definition of rich. I don't consider myself rich or better than anyone else. What puzzles me is all of the negative comments and the fact that some of these people sound jealous or wish bad luck to myself and my neighbors. I notice it is the same people on all news about the neighborhood. Do they not realize that this area contributes to the overall economy and the job market in the valley. The facilties have been built and there are many people out of work so it only makes sense to help fill these voids. Hopefully his hotel will reopen soon and put jobless people back to work. Personally, the hotel doesn't mean to much to me other than what it does for the village. Didn't purchase in the neighborhood because there was a hotel or hotels close. The golf courses were another story. That made sense to me. More important to me is to get the golf courses open. Not only would I like it, but they attract people from all over the country which only helps all of us no matter where you live in the valley. Revenue for the airport, taxi's, hotels, bars, eating joints, etc.. Making more sense to me. According to golf pro's, most of the out of town golfers stay on the strip and many of them are attending conventions and or meetings. More revenue for the valley and making more sense to me. Don't forget more jobs and tax money. Momentum takes time and hopefully it is just beginning. I wish all of you well.
On a completely unrelated note, if anyone wants to buy any really nice towels or bathrobes, please let me know. I, got them from my uh... Uncle "Ritz".
It's sad everywhere... Times are tough! We have to look out for our fellow man/woman and children....
This article has zero new facts. The closure was announced months ago. Not sure why so many Chicken Little's see this as another piece of the proverbial sky falling when this story already circulated the media track nearly 3 months ago. It is common contractual practice in the hospitality industry - esp. with the luxury brands - that a buyer is not permitted to re-open within a set time buffer (60, 90, 120 days are all common). So, is anyone really surprised that (gasp!) the hotel closed when they said it would in Feb?
My heart goes out to the employees who were pink-slipped. I know many of them, and hope they all land somewhere with a substantial & secure paycheck.
@dipstick - No lipstick being applied to this pig of a story. Just stating that it's not news at all since it was news in February. You will certainly see an unmistakable "upbeat viewpoint" from me when the new buyer and/or operator is reported upon, but that probably won't happen on this publication's site.
@Art - I think I'll call you the little Energizer Bunny since you just keep comin' back for more, knowing full well that your sophomoric remarks are as insignificant as they are nonsensical. Apparently, the Sun moderators and other readers agree because I didn't flag either of your removed posts. Way to attack my husband personally again (yawn)...that's really big of you. But, hey, our expectations are low, so don't worry, you're not letting anyone down. As for your accusation that my posts are "over the top and self serving," you sure got me there. Right. I research and post accurate facts to defend the businesses & people of a neighborhood in which I don't even live. Try again, though. Sadly, I know you will.
Lake Las Vegas R.I.P....
Las Vegas real estate is like the Beanie Baby craze back in the day. The little four dollar toys were always only worth four dollars, but at the height of the frenzy, people were paying up to five hundred bucks for one. It was awesome fun for those who sold at the peak. But not so much for the little old ladies who paid "thirty cents on the dollar" after the crash. Because the value was an illusion, it really was only worth four bucks. I Wonder how many nice people have a closet full of "hundred dollar" Beanie Babies.
Regardless of the causes of the closing, it is too bad for Henderson and the Las Vegas area. Lake Las Vegas is actually a nice place to spend a day at or even a weekend. I just think the concept of a "retreat" for the rich or a place for a "vacation" home was not sustainable. Here's my take to get the place turned around:
-Get all the golf courses up and running. Green fees should be reasonable.
-Have a nice casino with a decent sports book. Games in the casino must cater to locals -- therefore no 6/5 blackjack, or super tight machines. No ridiculous food and drink prices.
-Have more public access for the lake. Have rental boats and allow fishing.
-Find the right marketing focus to get tourists and locals to go there for the value it represents.
Good comment by okra. You are fairly close. The best part is when you sell all your beanies at the peak and sit back and wait for another oppotunity. Reality is recognizing a 1.3 is really only a 750 in its best day and getting it for 300 can only go one way for the most part. History will reflect that eventually another wave of the blind will come forward. Its easy at that point to sit back, enjoy and wait for the next group. It does not change the fact that one thing feeds off the other and the foundation is there for many new opportunities to be explored. That will create jobs and revenue for all and increase values in the process.
Best wishes Ritz Carlton employees, you did a great job!
Thank you LVSun for finally realizing that Art's comments never actually contribute to the good of anything. They are always off topic and degrading to most. Thank you for deleting them.
Erin, thank you for the nice article and the great photo that really captures the essence of Lake Las Vegas.
I wish the employees of the Ritz the best.
bring in the homeless. A perfect homeless shelter.
Here's another FACT about Lake Las Vegas:
As of yesterday, the greens on the Falls and Reflection Bay golf courses are being professionally fertilized, something the City of Henderson does not require the owners to do as part of the required maintenance. And, it's not cheap, either. I'm sure Carmel isn't sinking one more penny into those courses unless it's to get them sold.
Hey TedB, it's 1-0, top of the 4th with one out, guys on 2nd & 3rd, and Pujols on deck. Get ready for 3-run homer. Go Lake Las Vegas!
It must sting to be so wrong, Art/Shy.
@Dip - Uhh, no. You don't follow baseball very closely right now, do you?
Hey Blondie, I like the way you picked on the baseball analogy. But I believe Albert has been intentionally walked after an infield pop up, and it's now up to Bubba Bouvier to keep the rally going. He's a little long in the tooth, but with a little luck, maybe the BK will turn LLV positive. With a K, however, LLV may be a very long term investment. It's all up to you, BB.
South Shore is not public. Still private. You have to be a member to play there. Only hotel guests from the Loews and Montelago Village can play the course without being a member and have to be escorted in via the resort shuttle.
From what I've read in all of these posts, it seems like most people from LLV who posted here bought within the last year, when the prices in LLV and the entire valley were low. I'm not sure why posters here continue to bring up the obvious. Sure, LLV and many other subdivisions were high priced, but those like Bouvier and Frommidwest all bought low, when it was the time to buy. I'm sure all who bought, when prices were low will be glad they did in a few years. From what I read in the LVSun today and watched on CNN, all economic indicators are that things are swinging positive. Nevada may be a bit behind, but will swing positive again soon.
Hey TedB -
You lost me with your imaginary baseball game. Exactly what didn't happen to equate to AP being intentionally walked? This is an analogy, not Teddy's Imaginationland Show. Do clarify.
Great post Art... I could not agree more.
Art, nobody believes your vague & inaccurate posts. You would be better served to stick to the facts. Instead, you continue to tell a sad narrative since you don't have facts to back you up (and the few "facts" you use are often made-up...see below). The fact is that a shrewd and successful investor - no matter the investment vehicle - buys low and sells high. It is as simple as that (but not easy). At 70-80% off of peak values, and at or just below replacement cost, the assets at Lake Las Vegas are on-par with most areas of Las Vegas and over the long-term, are bargains. Sure, if you want to be greedy, you can wait for the definitive, elusive "bottom." But, a smart investment advisor would never suggest such a reckless strategy.
So, it all boils down to whether or not Lake Las Vegas has enough of a competitive advantage to rebound. If you don't think a 300+ -acre private lake, three exceptionally pedigreed golf courses, two 4+ -star resorts (yes, I'm counting the now-closed Ritz since the asset remains and will re-open), a picturesque cobblestone village of fabulous restaurants & shops, unique residential properties across the price spectrum, and gorgeous scenery and views, then no, you won't think LLV has a competitive advantage.
Apparently, that's where Art and I will always disagree. There is far, far too much going for Lake Las Vegas and its future for it to disappear into a pit of quicksand or freeze like Medusa's suitor.
Also, Lake Las Vegas was never, never, never (!) estimated to be a $7B project, as Art stated. The grossly inflated CushWake appraisal in 2005-2006 was valued at $1.2B inclusive of the entire resort's holdings (except the Loews and the shops/restaurants at MonteLago Village). So, Art, where did you get that misleading un-fact?
Regarding your comments on the EU & Greece, and with the involvement you claim in the financial sector, I'm sure you're familiar with the efficient market theory. Do you agree or not?
Obviously, if Art's pessimistic doomsday premonition comes to fruition, we will all have far more about which to worry than the tiny community of Lake Las Vegas. I'm with Warren Buffet: "There's no way you can bet & win against America."
Lake Las Vegas has exited bankruptcy, with no debt and nearly $30 million in hand to re-invest into the community.
The plan is solid and will allow Lake Las Vegas to move forward and prosper.