Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 63

neno uazeue-joumai ouiiuay, uanudiy ioo QOQQflM Casinos might spri II over if plans prove out 1 wji 'my-T 1 "uiu- 1 trolled by T.M. Chang, a San Francisco businessmen. About six years ago, Chang granted leasehold rights to the property to George Benny, who spent a fortune in renovating the historic spa resort and built a new casino. Benny is serving a 30-year sentence for his land swindlings. His properties, including the River Inn, ended up in bankruptcy court in San Francisco, where they languished for several years.

Last February, Capital City Savings and Loan, of Washington, D.C., foreclosed on the River Inn and relinquished control to Chang in September. The ball now moves to Washoe County District Court, which is to decide how many of the dozens of mechanics liens against the property are valid. A court date is expected to be set in late March, according to Monique Laxalt Urza, a Reno attorney whose firm is handling Chang's case. Urza wouldn't say how much the liens total because it's central to the case. But a search of records, as they were filed several years ago with Washoe County Recorder's office, indicated the claims total several million dollars.

Mapes Hotel First Interstate Bank of Nevada is still looking for buyers for the Mapes Hotel, which it foreclosed on Dec. 17, 1982. The grand old lady on the Truckee River would cost between $5 million to $7 million to bring up to code, but most prospective buyers have considered adding more rooms and parking to strengthen the property, said Bud Bradshaw, the bank's executive vice president for loan policies. To buy the property and bring it up to code, a buyer would need to make $15 million, Bradshaw said. With more rooms and a garage, the package rises to million.

A tax credit for the building's historic rating is currently available. "But we don't know if it will survive the tax bill in Congress. That's one of the things that make people hesitate," he said. w- iv- From page 1F Travelers Hotel Construction of the long-disputed Travelers Hotel near Reno Cannon International Airport is expected to begin in March or April. The project, however, is now called the Royce Hotel and Casino.

Royce Hotels International a subsidiary of Servico Inc. of West Palm Beach, has signed a contract to operate the 312-room, 15-story project, according to developer Michael Neeser. Developers are seeking a gaming license to operate the $36 million hotel-casino. The project was delayed for more than two years by the city of Reno. In 1984, the Nevada Supreme Court ordered the city to issue a construction permit, saying the city was "arbitrary and capricious" in turning the Travelers down in June 1983.

A Washoe County district court judge awarded Neeser $50,000 plus court costs for the delay. But Neeser is now asking the Nevada Supreme Court for $6 million in damages. The hotel will appeal to an upscale market, with each room a suite with views of the city. It will feature a casino, health club and 10,000 square feet of convention space. Ponderosa Hotel-Casino A group of investors is very interested in helping to bankroll the Ponderosa Hotel-Casino, which now operates only the hotel portion of the business, said Don Rowan, vice president of operatons.

"We have a group of investors that is tied up with our group in the process of financing to go ahead with the project," he said. "Right now, it looks very good, but I wouldn't want to say 90 percent." A bankroll to renovate the property inside and out is planned. After remodeling, investors would help finance a 17-story hotel approved by the Reno City Council last February. As soon as a financial package is put together, the group headed by Anthony Amico would submit applications for a gaming license, Rowan said. With approval, refurbishing would hopefully begin this summer.

The Ponderosa would reopen as the Grand Western Hotel-Casino. The $25 million expansion plans, which Rowan hopes would begin 18 months after the property is remodeled, include 360 rooms, 19,000 square feet of gaming space and a four-level underground parking garage. The hotel now has 165 rooms. Sands The Sands Regent plans to begin construction in June on the first phase of a 35-story, 736-room addition, Sands President Pete Cladianos announced in late December. The first phase would include the construction of 400 rooms, 20,000 square feet of casino space and a parking garage.

The new addition is scheduled to open in April 1987. The additional gaming space would extend the casino space to half a city block while the next phase, including another casino, would make it a full block long. In all, the original expansion plans covered a $55 million project and would give the hotel-casino 736 new rooms, for a total of 1,406. Project revisions, which include moving the parking garage to another location and installing a swimming pool, are to be heard by the Reno Planning Commission Wednesday and must be approved by the city. Slow times for the casino industry in Washoe County this year influenced the decision to cut back, Cladianos said.

The Sands went public to sell stock and issue Marilyn NewtonGazette-Journal Verdi, still isn't finished. approved for a 34-story hotel-casino project in 1980. Valley Bank had been trying to sell the Gold Dust properties since it foreclosed in May 1982. The previous owner was John Cavanaugh, who continues to operate the Gold Dust West on Fourth Street. Western Willies A few more properties have to be rounded up to start the Old West hotel-casino kitty-corner from the Circus Circus on North Virginia and Fifth streets, said John Douglas, Comstock general manager, whose family has an interest in the property.

His father Jack, the major property holder, could not be reached for comment. The 101-room hotel-casino would feature a row of western storefronts facing Virginia Street. It was the last project to be approved under the old 100-room guideline. Now properties must have a minimum of 300 rooms. It was estimated to cost $7 million when approved in 1984.

Steamboat Station Nothing has been heard about the amusement park since the last time the newspaper published its "What-ever-hap-pened-to list in December 1982. But the billboards announcing the project are still up along U.S. 395, just south of the Mount Rose Highway, where the project is located. The $25 million park, as estimated in 1980, would include a shopping center, equestrian facilities, a gaming hall and a 150-room motel. In 1981, Corrao received approval for a 175-space recreational vehicle park as part of the project.

Corrao. could not be reached for comment this week. River Inn The fate of the River Inn, which could someday be the best place in Reno to spend a lazy afternoon, is tied up in courts, as it has been for the last five years. The giant A-framed casino, with two outdoor decks overlooking the Truckee River and the Sierra foothills between Reno and Verdi, is now fully con that will add an estimated 10,000 people to the Truckee Meadows' populaton. Nevada foreign trade zone Shelby Dill, executive director of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, expects a new foriegn trade zone in Sparks, aimed at boosting foreign investment in Nevada, to be approved within a month.

Approval would come from the Foreign Trade Zone Board, which consists of four members of President Reagan' Cabinet the secretaries of Commerce, Defense, Agriculture and the Interior. The approval would incorporate two foreign trade zone areas in Nevada under one name. One of the sites, a 25-acre parcel off Spice Islands in Sparks owned by Dermody Properties, would receive the designation. The Las Vegas site already has the foreign trade zone designation. Damonte Ranch SMG Technologies Inc.

of Reno, developer of the proposed Terramonte "mini-city" on the former Damonte Ranch property at Mount Rose Highway and U.S. 395, is arranging financing for the development, project manager Paul Curtis said. A 10-year, $10 billion plan calls for 6,000 residential units for about 15,000 people and enough businesses to cover 117 acres, Curtis said. A starting date of construction has not been set, he added. YKC-Yamada Industries Inc.

Vice president Jim Gregg said his company, based in Japan, hopes to start operations by September in a instances don't specify, who they should be. The trend toward inside boards worries many. "With an inside board, management does what its wants to do. You're talking to yourself," says Nash. "The whole trend of the 1970s toward outside directors to enhance the oversight function is down the tubes." Other companies are going "bare" without insurance for their directors while still others are looking into self-insurance and other alternatives.

lies on the Truckee River between Reno and Marilyn NewtonGazette-Journal AWAITING A NEW OWNER: The historic Mapes Hotel in downtown Reno is still for sale. Cloud closed the lodge in 1983 after Nevada gaming officials yanked his license for more than 200 regulation violations. Gold Dust As 1985 ended, Jack Douglas, a partner in the Comstock and Club Cal-Neva, and his four sons purchased the downtown Gold Dust Hotel Casino for $3.75 million. They plan to open its 120 rooms this summer if cost of meeting fire safety laws is reasonable, said son John Douglas, who is general mangager of the Comstock Hotel-Casino. Douglas said the family will watch the economy before deciding whether to renovate and reopen the casino portion.

But the property primarily was purchased as an investment. The deal also involves several parking lots, including one on the northwest corner of First and Sierra streets, which was Double Diamond Ranch Southmark Corp. of Dallas is preparing a development plan for this ranch, which it purchased recently from Nevada National Bank for $9.5 million, or $4 258 8n flcrc Tom Walker, Southmark's senior vice president for corporate development, said the plan, which would have to be approved by Washoe County officials, would include single-family residences and light commercial zoning. Satellite Hills industrial park Pace-Tek of Reno hopes to break ground this spring on the first building in an industrial park inside the northeast edge of Sparks city limits, Pace-Tek Vice President Mark Andelin said. Plans for the park not far from Reed High School will be submitted Jan.

7 for review by Sparks city officials, he said. The first tenants of the building will be TypeSetting NetWork which makes paste-up originals for printing jobs; TELCO, which handles billing and management services for local phone companies in Nevada and California; Studio One, an architectural firm; and, possibly, Stylo Software of Idaho. In the residential part of the development, all of about 200 single-family homes planned for that area have been sold. Pace-Tek also plans to open a new development on 640 acres in Spanish Springs to the northeast of the first project, he said. Pace-Tek's master plan calls for a residential and industrial development, including manufacturing Elants, warehouses, offices and 2,500 omes to be built over the next five years federal regulators, report finding it nearly impossible to recruit directors from outside their own executive ranks.

Chemical companies with high environmental risks and high technology firms with high failure rates are also having trouble finding competent outside directors. As a result, more companies are left with boards composed of only "inside" directors the company's own executives. State laws require corporations to have boards of directors, but in most NOT FINISHED: The River Inn casino, which bonds to finance the project, which was approved in early 1984. Peppermill The Peppermill Inn Casino also announced plans in late December to go ahead with the first phase of a $65 million expansion project. The plan, which was endorsed by the Reno City Council in July 1984, was held up until the Federal Aviation Administration granted final approval to height restrictions.

Plans originally called for a 19-story hotel, but the level was dropped to 15 stories so that the hotel wouldn't be in the path of planes using Reno Cannon International airport's east-west runway. The first phase, estimated at $25 million to $30 million, would include 350 hotel rooms, double convention space to 15,000 square feet, expand the casino, and double the size of the buffet restaurant. Construction is expected to begin this spring, with completion set for 1987. The second and third phases, to be built as demand warrants, would include 250 rooms each and more gaming and con-venton space. A seven-level parking garage would accompany construction Cal-Neva Lodge The sale of the Cal-Neva Lodge at Crystal Bay was closed Dec.

30, with Los Angeles real estate developer Charles Bluth buying the property from Hibernia Bank. The property was appraised at $11 million. Bluth plans to spend about $2 million to renovate the property. He would open up the casino so patrons can see the lake and remove a false ceiling from an A-framed section of the building. He hopes to open by April or May, assuming he receives a gaming license.

Hibernia Bank ended up with the property after John Perroton, a San Mateo businessman, allegedly used fraudulent means to buy the property last January. He allegedly used forged documents and said he was backed by Sheraton Hotels while convincing Hibernia Bank to loan him company $20 million to buy the property from Ron Cloud. that it can begin construction of the secondary treatment plant in April or May, according to John Collins, the county's chief sanitary engineer. Collins said the estimated cost of the plant designed to serve major new developments in the south Truckee Meadows was $5.9 million, but the final figure could total $6.5 million. Construction would be completed by July 1987.

The plant will serve a variety of projects now in various stages of planning, including: the Double Diamond and Damonte ranches, Steamboat Station at Geiger Grade and U.S. 395, Shadow Ridge and Spring Village on Mount Rose Highway, and the proposed Galena Ski Resort. Stead industrial park Standard Realty and Development Co. of Oakland, hopes to submit plans by the end of March to Reno city officials for a new industrial park of between 500 to 600 acres in Stead, said Standard President Bill Ditz. The company hopes to begin preparing industrial sites by this summer, Ditz said.

Street improvements are already under way. Ditz said his company is working to assist R.R. Donnelley and Sons which has purchased more than 100 acres of the land for a printing plant, at the intersection of Moya and Lear boulevards. Donnelley, he said, "may be the largest occupant" of the phased development. In mid-1986, Standard Realty expects to begin negotiations to obtain additional businesses for the park, which Ditz estimates to be a 10-year project.

themselves could have been held personally liable. Some of the latest developments: Two directors of Control Data Corp. resigned last month after its insurer canceled the insurance that protects its officers and directors. Six directors of Continental Steel quit in unison last September when the company dropped its policy covering directors. Financial institutions, hit by industry failures and increasing lawsuits by Players Casino The Players Casino is up for sale after its owners, Phillip and Schwab, withdrew their gaming application this summer, according to Keith Lee, their Reno attorney.

The New York couple, who own a Miami demolition company, bought the property in 1983. They caused more than one head to turn when they installed new signs more than a year ago, way before their licensing was even submitted. The Schwabs are estimated to have spent in the millions to bring the heating, ventilating, air conditioning and plumbing up to code, Lee said. They also redecorated throughout the three-story building. "Essentially, they refurbished the entire facility," Lee said.

"I haven't been in it for five months, but it's a turnkey casino. Everything is first-class, ready to go." The Schwabs bought the property from First Interstate Bank of Nevada for $5 million in a bankruptcy proceeding in August 1983. It opened in 1978 as the Money Tree Casino. It as well as the Mapes Hotel, which was also foreclosed upon, were owned by corporations controlled by Charles Mapes. Boomtown Plans are still on the books for a 500-room addition, 18-hole golf course and 216-space RV park for Boomtown in Verdi.

However, officials couldn't be reached for comment on the 8-year-old plans. foot building on 3.6 acres in northwest Reno's Northgate. The YKC plant will hire 50 people locally to make machines used to produce semiconductors. The company plans an investment of $3 million in the first phase of its operations in Reno, Gregg said. Operations may be expanded in three to five years depending on performance in the first phase, he added.

Centennial Plaza Developers have been rewriting plans for Centennial Plaza, the largest development of its kind ever proposed for Reno, since it met opposition from its potential residential neighbors in the southwest, downtown casino interests and those who say Reno may be outstripping its resources. The original $500 million, 20-year project on 207 acres was to include three hotel-casinos totaling 4,500 rooms, a arena, a 13-acre shopping complex, a seven-acre geothermal spa, a office park, 31 townhouses, a 400-unit senior citizen housing project and 24 single-family homes. Mustang Ranch The sale of the Mustang Ranch to Strong Point Inc. has been extended for six months with a provision "if someone else comes with the cash we're free to sell," said Joe Conforte, the owner John Davis, of Irvine, made all kinds of news this year when he bought Strong Point, a shell of a company in Utah, and sold stock to help raise $18 million to buy the Mustang. It would be the first public company to run a legal brothel and in this case, the country's largest.

Those directors who remain on corporate boards are putting in many more hours than before, to stay informed and out of trouble. "The key now is to give time and commitment to the job," says Nash. "You have to attend all the meetings and be inquisitive. And you never sit in dissent without having it recorded in the minutes. Many directors owe their jobs to the chief executive officer and are too embarrassed to ask penetrating questions, but that has to change." Not under way From page 1F to as the Porsche Ranch because of its one major tenant.

Here is what developers are saying about their projects this year: HP Galena Ski Resort Developers are awaiting action by the Washoe County Planning Commission and the County Commissioners on recently 1 submitted plans for the first stage of the proposed ski resort and residential com-" munity on Mount Rose, project manager Robert Weise said. 2 The first proposed subdivision maps that have been submitted cover between 400 and 500 multifamily residences in the development's first "village," Weise said. The entire project would include a max- imum of 2,500 multifamily units and 1,600 hotel rooms on about 300 acres of the property, along with ski runs and lifts. Construction of the entire development, which was one of the first master-planned projects proposed under Washoe County's 2 Major Project Review program, would cover four "villages" and require between 12 and 15 years to build, Weise said. In addition to the Galena Resort part-Z nership under President Robert Wells, 2 other partners in the development pro-Z posed in 1983 are the Redfield Trust and the Alpine Meadows ski resort.

South Truckee Meadows sewage treatment plant Washoe County has told Professional Services Group of Atlanta, a contractor, La Board director From page 1F Delaware Supreme Court ruled that directors of the Trans Union Corp. acted irresponsibly when the company was sold in 1980. That decision led to a settlement in which directors agreed to pay shareholders $23.5 million. Only $10 million of that was covered by insurance; the rest was paid voluntarily by the company's purchasers, even though the directors.