Downtown Castaways, Las Vegas, Ladies Cotton Tee

Description

In 1998, Harrah’s Entertainment purchased Showboat, Inc. along with the Showboat Hotel and Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, but just two years later sold the Showboat Las Vegas property to VSS Enterprises—a group led by Dan Shaw, Mike Villamor, and Greg Schatzman—for $23.5 million. Harrah’s retained the rights to the Showboat name to avoid confusion with its Atlantic City casino, forcing the new owners to rechristen the property as the Castaways. Unfortunately, the newly rebranded property never gained traction. As the Associated Press reported, the property was badly hurt by the post–September 11 tourism slump, and by 2002 discussions of converting the site into a Holiday Inn with a $57 million expansion fizzled. Financial woes deepened when VSS defaulted on its $20 million mortgage, triggering foreclosure proceedings in 2003. Castaways filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing up to $100 million in debt, but was allowed to limp along until January 29, 2004. At that point, a judge ruled VSS had misused funds, and lender Vestin Mortgage shut the doors for good. Vestin soon agreed to sell the property for $21.6 million to MGI Group, operators of the Bighorn and Longhorn casinos, who envisioned a Latino-focused resort called La Joya del Sol. Before that plan could advance, Station Casinos swooped in, paying MGI $12.1 million to step aside and closing the deal themselves. Station’s real interest lay in the site’s grandfathered gaming license. After deeming the old buildings structurally unsound, demolition began in July 2005, and the hotel tower was spectacularly imploded on January 11, 2006. Station floated plans for a $90 million Spanish-themed project, Castaways Station, but the idea stalled. By 2009, with Station itself sliding toward bankruptcy, the company listed the land for $39.5 million. To preserve the valuable license, a small portable casino was periodically opened for the minimum eight hours required by law every two years. In 2016, Station tried again to unload the property. Eventually, 25 of its 30 acres went to developer Amador Bengochea, who opened the Showboat Park Apartments in 2021 and later added storage and a health district building. Station retained five acres, and in 2023 unveiled a new Wildfire-branded casino on the site—bringing the long, turbulent story of the Castaways full circle.