Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Tiffany Brown / Las Vegas Sun file
The Plaza hotel-casino is seen in 2009 looking from Symphony Park. Mayor Oscar Goodman said Monday that the area near the Plaza would be key to providing access between Symphony Park and the area near the Fremont Street Experience.
By Dave Toplikar (contact) 
Published Monday, Sept. 13, 2010 | 4:12 p.m.
Updated Monday, Sept. 13, 2010 | 5:27 p.m.
The future home of the Symphony Park area is shown on the left and the Plaza hotel-casino tower is on the right near the Fremont Street Experience. Main Street is seen on the far right.
Oscar Goodman
Implode the Plaza?
In 2005, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman told a local business publication that was his wish for the landmark downtown hotel and casino that serves as the west anchor of the Fremont Street Experience.
"If I had my druthers, I'd still say the same thing," Goodman told reporters at a hasily called press conference Monday afternoon at his office at city hall.
Goodman made that remark following the revelation Monday morning that the Plaza will temporarily shut down its hotel in November for a major renovation, which will put some 400 employees out of work.
The Plaza's footprint is "the gateway, really, between the Fremont Street Experience and what we're trying to do over at Symphony Park," Goodman told reporters.
The mayor said Symphony Park, along with the Ruvo Brain Institute and the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, is going to be "the epicenter of all that's great in this valley culturally, intellectually, medically ... I thought it was critical to have the movement going in order to get the critical mass coming over the railroad tracks."
"The railroad tracks are like our river here," he said. "You have to get over it. And the only way to get over from Fremont Street would be to go through the Plaza."
The Fremont Street Experience gets about 18 million visitors a year, he said. Once Symphony Park is developed with condos and apartments, restaurants, bookstores and music shops, "it would be wonderful if we could move those folks from one side of the railroad tracks over to the other," Goodman said.
Goodman said he realized he wasn't going to get his wish.
The Plaza's owners said they are planning to renovate the 1,037 guest rooms and hallways.
"We'll work with them and try to get access — maybe go under it, making sort of a tunnel from the Fremont Street Experience going under the Plaza," Goodman said.
The mayor said representatives of the Plaza advised him last week about closing the guest rooms.
"I'm the kind of guy who makes lemonade out of lemons," he said. "You could never feel good about a situation where some 400-plus employees are going to be out of a job. But they told me that, in fact, was going to be the case."
The good news is the Plaza is going to renovate, he said, which is what other downtown hotels have done.
For example, the Golden Nugget put in a new 500-room tower in its $500 million renovation, he said. The El Cortez and the Cabana Suites are redeveloping.
"The folks over at the Gold Spike are actually building, virtually, a new hotel," Goodman said.
He said the Lady Luck is in the process of cleaning out its rooms in a $100 million-plus remodeling effort.
"I think, in the long run, we're going to be all right," he said. "But, as I said, there's no way in the world you could feel good about people losing jobs, particularly in our economy as it stands today."
Goodman said it's difficult to compare gaming revenue for the Strip to downtown casinos because downtown casinos don't have baccarat.
"I think we're in pretty good shape," he said. "...The occupancy is good. The average daily rate is down. That's the bad news."
He said he had a conversation with downtown developers who were optimistic because they think in 2012 and 2013 the convention and meeting business will be on the upswing.
But he admitted that efforts to redevelop downtown have been tough because of the economy.
"It's like Sisyphus," he said, referring to the Greek mythological story of the king who was punished by being forced to eternally roll a boulder up a hill.
"That's what it's been like trying to redevelop the downtown here," he said. "I've been doing it now for 11 1/2 years and it's like a boulder, pushing that boulder up a hill. And as soon as I stop pushing it, it comes back and cracks my skull. So I have no choice. I have to keep on pushing up."
Goodman said he didn't like the idea of the employees at the Plaza losing their jobs.
However, he said the hotel owners do plan to send some of their employees to work at their sister hotel properties. Those are the Las Vegas Club Hotel & Casino and the Western Hotel & Casino.
"And the expectation is that the employees will be rehired once they reopen," Goodman said.
Also Monday, Goodman said he was having second thoughts about entering into an exclusive two-year negotiating agreement last November with the Cordish Company of Baltimore.
Last November, Cordish entered an two-year negotiating agreement with the city to develop a sports arena, a casino-hotel and an entertainment district on city-owned property that includes the existing city hall and parking garage.
"It's their move," Goodman said. "As far as I'm concerned, I wish I had not entered into such a binding exclusive because we're getting inquiries from a lot of people with whom I can't speak about building an arena down here, about building a stadium down here.
"But I'm bound not to engage in those conversations and it's breaking my little heart," Goodman said.
The Plaza, renovated in 2011, has a lobby that features marble and inlaid mosaic tiles, chandeliers and a plush front desk that matches the classic Las Vegas feel with a contemporary look.
The hotel has 1,003 rooms and suites that showcase views of the Las Vegas Strip and downtown Las Vegas. Amenities include world-class entertainment, a casino floor that offers an array of classic gaming choice, which include 600 slot machines, a 400-seat bingo room, 18 table games and 57,120 square feet of casino space.
Among the dining options is Oscar's Beef * Booze * Broads, a steakhouse opened by former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman, which is located in the glittery dome enclosure above the hotel's main entrance.
The Plaza sits at the west end of the Fremont Street Experience on the site of the first train depot and auction site in Las Vegas, dating back to the San Pedro-Los Angeles-Salt Lake Railroad in 1905. The railroad was sold to Union Pacific in 1921 and the depot was demolished in 1970 to make way for the Union Plaza Hotel, built in 1971.
The hotel has been featured or is visible in several movies, including the 1971 James Bond film, "Diamonds are Forever;" the 1989 film "Back to the Future Part II;" the 1995 move "Casino," and the 2000 movie "Pay it Forward."
Las Vegas has lost it's identity. This place for years stuck to the formula which made it a top tourist destination. The corporate takeover is what destroyed it. All of these hotel/casinos which getting boarded up, razed, or just plain BK'd are not entirely because of the economy, but the fact that the corporate idiots in charge don't know jack about running a successful gambling business. We are doomed..
Clark county has a law that new casinos have at least 250 rooms. Does Las Vegas City have the same rule? How can Binion's close the rooms???
Could some one research this? I haven't heard the Unions complain.
Stop spending money. Stop building things that can't be paid for. Stop issuing building permits for commercial and housing projects when so many places stand empty. What dream world are these politicians living in. I certainly notice the taxes on my house rising when it's value is less than half of what it used to be. No real jobs to speak of. Even laying off city employees. There is absolutely nothing in this economy to hint things are ever going to turn around. You politicians better wake up or before very long LV is going to be a ghost town.
I have lived in Vegas for almost 24 years and I have seen Downtown change for the better. I like what is going on in Symphony Park and I wish our city and the Mayor the best for his vision on the future of Downtown and the city of Vegas.I love the improvements of Downtown Las Vegas and there are still more work to be done and to Mayor Oscar Goodman, thank you!!!
Bravo Mayor Goodman!!!!
"As far as I'm concerned, I wish I had not entered into such a binding exclusive because we're getting inquiries from a lot of people with whom I can't speak about building an arena down here, about building a stadium down here."
Hmmmm, gee, that sounds familiar ...
I could swear I heard that somewhere before, that it was a bad idea to sign an exclusivity agreement ...
Who was the brilliant but anonymous poster who said here when the deal was announced why does it have to be exclusive?
Who could that genius have been and why did no one list to him ... or her ... before?
I wonder ...
Transcontinental railroad, interstate highway system, Nuclear test site, Hoover Dam, LAS VEGAS was built on government tax and spend
....stop regurgitating Hannity Talking points, he is a wall boarder and his ratings are dropping.
Putting sugar in a glass of urine is not lemonade! Oscar, what a joke!
mred,
Yes, there is a law that for a NEW casino to be built they have to have so many rooms.
All of those downtown are older places and are grandfathered in.
Just like some of the free standing casinos on Freemont street, Sahara and on Boulder Hwy. They don't have to have rooms at all.
Mayor is right, he should have never agreed to that two year exclusive agreement. Hindsight is 20/20 though. There will be no stadium built or even started while Oscar is in office. He won't see that one come true.
Well...
When all else fails, blow something up.
so wait...the drunks stumbling around Fremont Street looking for flutes of margaritas, $.99 shrimp cocktail and $2 blackjack are the same people they are trying to attract to development with condos, boutique hotels, a medical research center, and a sympathy orchestra hall? interesting.
I think Wayne Newton and Andrew Dice Clay need a rematch; someone get Glen Wilder on the phone. :-)
"all that's great in this valley culturally, intellectually, medically"
Ah how touching, kinda brings a tear to my eye...Baloney
If the Mayor truly was so concerned about have a "gateway" to Symphony Park, then why the hell did he give away choice, citizen-owned property adjacent to the Plaza FOR ONE DOLLAR??? (And what was in it for Oscar, hmmmmm??)
Boyd Gaming had reneged on their commitment to build a free public parking structure in return for receiving either that piece of property, or another plum, citizen-own plot (I forget which). Since Boyd reneged, the city should have taken back the property, or at least put a few screws to Boyd to get them to use THAT as the gateway.
Instead, Oscar gave it to his backroom buds for, literally, one dollar.
mred--One would need the IQ of at least a 3rd grader to understand that the 250 room minimum was for new construction only.
"Could some one research this? I haven't heard the Unions complain." Duuhhhh
A tunnel under the tracks ?? Sounds like a perfect place to get mugged to me..
Good old "Mighty Mouth" Oscar. Apparently the gin imploded his brain long ago. Thank God for term limits!
Just wait until they eminent domain F street after they get the bypass done.
All of this is a waste of tax dollars...
My crystal ball - My vision - it's starting to look like a ghost town.
Like it was said above - corporations have ruined this place!
This would be perfect... let's run a new squel of Mad Max in VEGAS!
And Donald Trump has a reality show!!! LOL
He can't even run his own ship afloat - but he's gonna share his business experience! Maybe someone should FIRE him for real...
the plaza should be condemned based on smell alone. if you ever run out of cigarettes just walk into the plaza and inhale for a few minutes. you'll need to launder your clothesor burn them afterwards but at least you'll get that cig fix you were looking for.
We lost two Guggenheim Museums in Las Vegas, Guggenheim Museum is a prestigious institution of the arts and having lost a couple of Guggenheims in the city says it all about the people residing in the city. Basing from what has been posted here, the city still has a lot of growing up to do. Mayor Oscar Goodman has a vision for our city to be competitive intelectually and culturally, I applaud his effort and vision.
Bravo Mayor Goodman for your vision to improve and make Las Vegas a truly world class city. Goodluck to our city it definitely needs it.
Downtown really is coming back. There's a vibe there, a sense of optimism, that I don't see coming from the Strip or off-Strip locations. They have the coolest restaurants, the coolest bars, the coolest everything. It's been packed on weekend nights, too; it's been twenty years since I had trouble finding parking around Fremont Street, and now that's a regular occurrence. Cheap food and drink just mean more money to spend on the slots, and there are still nice, pricey places to go.
We've taken mini-vacations at the new tower at the Nugget twice (when they had good rates for locals at the beginning of the summer), but refuse to stay in the older rooms (what can I say? I like a nice room); so maybe renovating the Lady Luck and the Plaza makes good sense over the long run, even if it sucks for the workers right now.
It's cleaned up a lot, and is amazingly vibrant. I haven't seen Fremont Street like this since I was a kid in the 70s (it's been a place for junkies, burn-ours, and hookers most of my life). But having gone there many times in recent months, I urge you to at least check out Fremont Street with some fresh eyes...it's the best place in Vegas right now, and no place has more potential.
Harvey's Wagon Wheel?
Plaza is bluffing, they won't remodel or reopen hotel...
they are just holding out for a land swap. Downtown should have been cleared in the 80's and done over.
It would cost $10,000 just to remodel one of the telephone booth size bathrooms at the Plaza.
What happened to "going after the Hispanic Market" that was going to save the Plaza after they kicked kdumb radio out of the building?
I took a closer look on Google Earth at that are.It seems that if you are facing the Plaza just to the right there is a parking lot just to the right of the Plaza Yes people would have to turn right and then an immediate left but it would give access from Freemont Street to Symphony Park.Minor detour but it looks as though it could happen.The city might just have to wait until the Owners of the Plaza file Bankruptcy which I am sure there renovation attempt is to help them keep from backruptcy.They are taking a gamble that probably will not work and mred is probably right they are saying they will reopen it but I highly think they will not.They could renovate floor by floor if they wanted to. they would close the floor that is being worked on and the one right below it.Mayor Goodman just needs to wait and see or go around it.
@nnose
My friend and I support Downtown by going to the restaurants there on a weekly basis. We don't gamble but we make sure we have meals Downtown during our days off much the same way we do on the Strip. Residents need to support Downtown for it to improve even more. Developments Downtown has given the area a new look and the future looks promising.
Bravo to all the people behind the redevelopment of Downtown and thank you Mayor Goodman!!!!
I have a photoblog of our beautiful city and I have showcased Downtown in my blog and will continually do so. It is under Urban Photo of Skyscrapercity website. I started with photos Off the Vegas Strip and eventually added photos On the Vegas Strip. It has gotten so many hits and this is my way of showing Vegas, my home to the world.
If they were really interested in renovation, they could do it a couple of floors at a time. (Just like the Stratosphere is doing right now. BTW Bobby Ray Harris used to be the Strat's GM before going to the Plaza).
Never mind the "Rat Pack" contract, as contracts are made to be broken, and "Firefly" really belongs at the Nugget.
Oscar may yet get some entities together to implode the Plaza and have his grand entrance to Symphony Park. Would probably be the best use for that property anyway.
Rodtig,
"there is a parking lot just to the right of the Plaza"
That lot is exactly what I was talking about, halfway up this thread. To summarize: that lot belonged to YOU, ME and the rest of the citizens of Las Vegas. Jan Jones gave it to Boyd Gaming, but with pre-conditions, and then Oscar and his cronies on the city council gave it all away for, get this... ONE DOLLAR. I kid you not. We can only speculate what the quid was in the "quid pro quo." Just one more example of local officials giving away publicly owned lands to private interests. Vegas politics as usual.
The first piece the symphony should play is Las Vegas Swan Song in the key of F...
I get a kick out of reading the comments on here. Vegas IS the most visited place in the U.S. and possibly the world each year. Why are the same individuals "CRYING" about what Vegas use to be? I say embrace what you have, and quit whining about what use to be. Times are changing, and the only way to deal with it is to accept it!
Sunfish,
"Embrace what you have."
An economy solely built around waiting on tables or cleaning rooms is a deadend. They are piss-poor jobs with low wages, no future, and completely at the mercy of the swings in the nation's economy. Due to the construction boom of the last 20 years, boom-time construction wages were also part of the landscape. But no more. And good riddance to all that, anyway.
But you are off the mark to be criticizing those of us who aspire for a more diversified economy. Gaming can remain one leg of the table. But we need other legs to support our table. In case you missed it, we have the nation's highest unemployment, the worst schools, the highest auto insurance rates, the second highest rate of pedestrian deaths, some of the highest rates of hepatitis, obesity, smoking, and other sundry ailments. Life is NOT good when the ONLY thing you know how to do is party. People will hang out with you on Friday night, but ignore you as they step over you on Monday morning.
The Plaza is in foreclosure and scheduled for Trustee Sale October 1, 2010. Tamares is lying if they say otherwise. Rodtig is close to being correct that Tamares or The Plaza's legal owner, T-UPR, LLC may file BK to avoid foreclosure.
LMAO at dipstick! That's a riot!