Chilean real estate millionaire targets Strip

In early 2020, before COVID-19 reared its ugly head, a Chilean real estate millionaire began a quest to buy property and develop a resort in Las Vegas.

Claudio Fischer, a former commercial airline pilot who once owned one of the largest salmon farms in the world, connected with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to negotiate a deal to buy 10 acres on the southeast corner of Las Vegas and Elvis Presley boulevards.

LVCVA President and CEO Steve Hill and Chief Financial Officer Ed Finger flew to Santiago, Chile, to meet with Fischer and negotiate a $120 million deal to sell the land where the Riviera once stood.

But in March 2020, COVID-19 stung Southern Nevada’s economy, closing casinos for an unprecedented 78 days. When that happened, Hill and the LVCVA had more to worry about than selling real estate and both parties agreed to put everything on hold.

The LVCVA originally acquired the Riviera land to complete its development of the $1 billion Las Vegas Convention Center’s West Hall. A portion of the land was going to be used for a parking lot next to the West Hall and to shift the footprint of the building to the west so deliveries to the building were easier on the east side. The LVCVA planned all along to sell 10 acres of Strip-front land for potential resort development and to have a funding source for a renovation project.

Eager to reignite

Nine months after COVID-19 began beating up on the world, Fischer was back on the phone with Hill to reignite the land deal. Ten months later, in October 2021, Hill presented a proposal to the LVCVA board of directors to sell the land for the agreed-upon $120 million.

The deal was important to the LVCVA because proceeds of the sale were to go toward the two-year, $600 million renovation of the Convention Center’s North, Central and South halls, bringing them up to the standards set in the new West Hall. That renovation project is scheduled to begin in March.

A few more things happened since Fischer and the LVCVA reached an agreement on terms of the sale.

Because the LVCVA originally acquired the Riviera with tax-free bonds, it needed to reinvest the proceeds of the sale to a project also financed by bonds — the renovation. In addition, the Boring Co. began making deals with resorts to build its underground Vegas Loop transit system and some of the planned tunnels were close to Fischer’s future 10 acres.

The deal needed to close after June 30 and, after several communications between Fischer, Finger and LVCVA General Counsel Caroline Bateman, the land deal was nearly ready to close.

Hill told the LVCVA board of directors last week that he expects the deal to reach the finish line by Nov. 30, although Fischer has until Dec. 15 to close on the transaction.

So, by mid-December, the LVCVA will have the funds necessary to back the bonds that will be used in March to finance its renovation project, and Fischer will have 10 acres for his resort.

2031 deadline to develop

Under terms of the deal, the LVCVA will continue to have access to the land for parking and any outdoor convention exhibits. Fischer doesn’t have to start construction until Jan. 1, 2031, after which the LVCVA would have the option to buy back the land.

Ever since I learned of Claudio Fischer and the deal in October 2021, I’ve been trying to get an interview with him to learn about what he has planned for the site, next door to the Fontainebleau and across the street from Resorts World. He apparently wants the deal to close before he talks publicly about any plans.

Every indication points to him delivering a quality product to the Strip.

Fischer developed the Monticello casino resort near Santiago, Chile, and the Park Hyatt Mendoza hotel-casino in Argentina. He also has real estate holdings in Panama, owns two airlines and his company, Sun Dreams, is moving toward acquiring EnjoyHotels, which would make him one of the largest hotel-casino operators in Latin America.

Hill called Fischer an innovator and a good fit for Southern Nevada and “an interesting and fun guy to be around.”

Maybe we’ll learn more about what Fischer has in mind for the North Strip once the deal closes.

“Claudio understandably wants as much freedom to build what he would like,” Hill said in an interview last year. “We see this parcel as a real opportunity for the entire neighborhood. Not only is it our next-door neighbor, but it’s next door to the Fontainebleau and across the street from Resorts World and it’s a place where all those properties can meet.

“The growth of the northern part of the Strip is important to us and we see this as a real opportunity because there are a lot of great things going into this area along the resort corridor.”

Contact Richard N. Velotta at [email protected] or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.


Tilman Fertitta starts demolition for Las Vegas Strip hotel-casino project

Tilman Fertitta demolished an old motel on the Strip, as the Houston billionaire pushes ahead with plans for a towering upscale resort.

Works crews recently tore down a former 1960s-era Travelodge on Las Vegas Boulevard just south of Harmon Avenue, leaving piles of concrete, wood and other debris on the site as of Tuesday. Its boarded-up lobby, in a separate building from the motel rooms, was still standing.

Nearby, a cluster of storefronts that Fertitta also purchased had been partially torn down. Tattoo parlor Vegas Ink had been demolished, while the backs of adjacent shops had been ripped down, letting passersby see mounds of demolished real estate through their still-standing storefronts.

The Clark County Commission last month approved Fertitta’s plans for a 43-story, 2,420-room hotel-casino in Las Vegas’ famed resort corridor. The same day, the county issued three demolition permits to let work crews tear down buildings on his 6-acre plot of real estate.

The spread, which Fertitta purchased in June for $270 million, included the Travelodge, the Tex Mex Tequila Bar & Grill building and a cluster of now-closed souvenir shops and other retail space.

The motel, built in 1963, had closed by July. At the time, a sign in the door of the lobby declared, “We had a good run. 59+ years of service. This Travelodge is closed permanently.”

A representative for Fertitta’s namesake company, Fertitta Entertainment, said Wednesday that there were “no updates we can share at this time” on the demolition plans for the remaining buildings.

Fertitta’s project calls for restaurants, convention space, a spa, wedding chapel, auto showroom and a roughly 2,500-seat theater. It would also include suites and villas, VIP salons and a bar and lounge for high-limit gamblers, building plans indicate.

Project representative Rebecca Miltenberger told the County Commission last month that the development would be a “high-end casino resort.”

Miltenberger, an attorney with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, also provided a timeline for the undertaking.

“We are very excited to bring this project to fruition over the next two years,” she told the commission.

Fertitta, 65, oversees a corporate empire that spans dozens of restaurant brands, Golden Nugget casinos in Nevada and other states, the NBA’s Houston Rockets and the upscale Post Oak Hotel in Houston.

He also has a big ownership stake in Wynn Resorts Ltd. According to a recent securities filing, he acquired 6.9 million shares in the Las Vegas-based casino operator, a 6.1 percent stake, making him one of its largest stockholders.

Fertitta’s project site is roughly 1.5 miles south of Wynn’s two luxury hotel towers on Las Vegas Boulevard, Wynn Las Vegas and Encore.

Last month a spokesperson for Fertitta Entertainment told the Review-Journal there was no groundbreaking date for the resort yet.

Contact Eli Segall at [email protected] or 702-383-0342. Follow @eli_segall on Twitter.


‘Awakening,’ and Las Vegas Strip stardom, for performer April Leopardi

Similar to “Le Reve” at Wynn Las Vegas, the T Spot at Tuscany Suites is no more. But the intimate lounge plays into April Leopardi’s rise to prominence on the Strip.

We first saw Leopardi perform at the T Spot (today’s Copa Room) about a decade ago, as a member of “Alice,” Anne Martinez’s fiery rock adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” The show was typical of many Vegas showcases, inspired and tireless and loaded with local talent valiantly attempting to find a proper Las Vegas home.

Leopardi was an ensemble cast member, catapulting herself around the room, at one point angrily flinging a stack of plates across the stage at her romantic interest. The song was Aeromith’s “Crazy,” fittingly enough for this number. The plates, fortunately, were plastic.

Leopardi has also performed in “Vegas! The Show,” “Zombie Burlesque,” “Sexxy,” “53X” and “Ester Goldberg’s Totally Outrageous Brunch.” These are not (or were not) giant productions. But Leopardi, with her partially shaved red hair and inherent intensity, has always been a standout.

She has since landed the co-starring role of Darkness in “Awakening” at Wynn Las Vegas. This is the show playing where the splendid “Le Reve” ran for 15 years and more than 6,000 performances before closing in August 2020. Bernie Yuman, Baz Halpin and Michael Curry produce the $120 million residency show.

“Awakening” is a cast of 60 along with Curry’s advanced puppet work and a healthy compliment of magic acts. The production plays in the renovated and technically advanced Awakening Theater. The venue was drained after “Le Reve” but is still seated in the round.

Yes, a far leap and a long toss of the plates from the T Spot. This is a dream opportunity, to borrow from the former show.

Leopardi chatted about her role as Monday’s premiere approached.

Johnny Kats: Have you absorbed everything that has happened in your career to the point that you can just focus on the job at hand?

April Leopardi: I don’t know that I will ever be fully calibrated. It’s literally the stuff that dreams are made of. This is just heads above anything I’ve done before. Maybe one day, I’ll get comfortable, but right now I still come to work every day and I can’t believe I’m here.

Those of us who know you in Las Vegas know your skill set, but can you take me through the technical pattern of how you landed the role?

I was contacted by (casting director) Louanne Madorna about this new project. She couldn’t tell me much about it, but she thought I’d be great for it. I had left Vegas for Hawaii for six months, and I was flown into Vegas to do a nightclub performance that happened to be the same week of the audition. … I made it through callbacks. They sent me scripts, not necessarily from this show, but of existing things, to read through. This continued for a really long time until they offered me a contract in January.

Did you have a clear idea of what you this show was about?

As I’m sure any of the performers in the show will tell you, when we signed our contracts we knew absolutely nothing about the show. Nothing. We didn’t know who was involved. We didn’t know the storyline. I didn’t know what I was going to be doing in the show.

Describe your character, Darkness

She is a goddess. and her other half is Light, who is a god. And they’re very deep, interesting characters. They begin as lovers, and they have a falling-out. They separate, and Darkness becomes very cold and guarded. She’s a woman scorned, if you will, and she becomes the villain to an extent. But the way these characters are written, there’s not a clear good guy and bad guy. They’re both (good guy and bad guy) if that makes sense.

You do speak in this role, right? Have you spoken on stage before?

Not to a great extent. I did “Cats” a long time ago, toward the beginning of my career, so I got to speak and sing a little bit. But I’m used to being up in the air, spinning, throwing plates, expressing a story with my body. So, this is really fun. It turns out, I really like having a microphone. (Laughs.)

There is magic in this show, and you were Murray Sawchuck’s assistant for a time. Are you involved in any of the magic scenes?

There are illusions in the show. I don’t want to give it away before people see it. But I will tell you that I think you’ll like the way the illusions are written into the story.

What is the biggest performance challenge for you in “Awakening”?

This Darkness character is larger than life. She’s a goddess who has been alive for a thousand years, who has completely isolated herself and kind of made herself the queen of her domain. She’s a very lonely character. She doesn’t really interact with anybody, especially toward the beginning of the show. It’s been a challenge to learn how to take myself out on this massive stage with 60 other people, with these puppets and all these crazy things, and, without saying or doing too much, force the audience to pay attention to me. I have to get them to care about me, and what happens to me, during this journey. Those are big boots to fill.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.


Killers to play Las Vegas Strip on New Year’s Eve

The Killers have played three shows in their hometown of Vegas this year. They’ll add a fourth, with a flourish, just under the wire.

The band is playing its final show of 2022 at the Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan, the resort announced Monday morning. Tickets are on sale 10 a.m. Nov. 18 at cosmopolitanlasvegas.com, or 800-745-3000. Tickets start at $150, not including fees.

The Chelsea show falls inside the dates of the band’s “Imploding the Mirage” world tour, closing March 25 in Houston. The Killers packed the Chelsea during the tour in April. They also played T-Mobile Arena in August and, on Saturday, Palace of the Gods at Caesars Palace to cap the Las Vegas Grand Prix Fan Fest.

Just before taking the stage Saturday night, front man Brandon Flowers was asked about the band headlining a residency in Las Vegas. He said, “We’ve talked a little bit about it. I’m definitely not opposed to it. I love the idea.”

Maroon 5 was the Chelsea’s New Year’s Eve headliners in 2021.

The hotel’s lead entertainment executive is, predictably, ready to rock again with the band that broke in Vegas.

“The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas has remained at the forefront of the Las Vegas entertainment scene for more than a decade,” Cosmopolitan Vice President of Entertainment and Nightlife Fedor Banuchi said in a statement. “We are honored to have Las Vegas’ very own, The Killers, back to The Chelsea for what is sure to be an unforgettable New Year’s Eve performance.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.