Hooters Las Vegas, we hardly knew ya....

http://www.lvrj.com/business/16209327.html



Say goodbye to those orange short-shorts.

Hooters Hotel will be rebranded into a yet-to-be named boutique hotel following a $130 million redevelopment of the property that could begin later this year, the investment group purchasing the hotel said Monday.

Santa Monica, Calif.-based Hedwigs Las Vegas Top Tier is completing its financing for the $225 million transaction and hopes to close the sale by late spring, Hedwigs principal Richard Bosworth said.

"This will be a complete redevelopment of the asset that includes a lifestyle, entertainment-driven boutique hotel and casino complex," Bosworth said.


Los Angeles-based designer Dodd Mitchell is heading the redesign team and will use the current structure in the new plans.

Hedwigs made its third $500,000 nonrefundable, nonapplicable fee payment Friday to retain exclusive purchase rights for the property.

Bosworth said the group wanted to close the deal late last year, but decided to activate a one-month extension clause because of the downturn in the capital markets.

The investment group plans to announce a partnership with a boutique hotel operator to manage the rebranded property.

Hedwigs also is negotiating with high-end restaurant developers and nightclub owners to open at the property, Bosworth said.

The redesign will also include expanding the casino area and changing some of the hotel's 727 rooms into suites.

However, Bosworth declined to say if the property would remain open during the changeover, which could take as long as 18 months.

Mitchell has worked on the redesign of the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, Calif., Hotel Valencias in San Jose, Calif., and San Antonio, and Thompson boutique hotels in Beverly Hills, Calif., and Manhattan.

Mitchell, which has been working on design plans since April, was in Mexico on Monday and was unavailable for comment.

This would be the property's second makeover in as many years. A $130 million redevelopment of the of the former Hotel San Remo turned the off-Strip property into Hooters in February 2006.

Bosworth said he wants to rebrand the property because he believes it could be more profitable with a brand targeting higher-end customers than those that visit Hooters.

"I just believe this location has a higher and better use that can attract higher and more profitable revenues at a major discount to construction costs," Bosworth said.

Bosworth said remodeling the resort makes more sense than building a new property on the site. The $355 million price, the purchase cost plus redevelopment costs, is approximately 40 percent below what it would cost to build new on the site, he estimated.

Bond analysts during the past few months have questioned the feasibility of the deal if the property kept its Hooters brand.

Under the Hooters Hotel brand, cash flow has been falling at the property.

Cash flow, defined as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, dropped 32 percent to $1.1 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30. It was $1.7 million in the same period a year earlier.

The property has yet to report its fourth-quarter earnings.

"I know the gaming analysts have criticized the acquisition at the $225 million level based on the performance level as a Hooters," said Bosworth, adding the shift to a luxury market will raise revenues in room rates, casino play and food and beverage with limited additional investment.

Bosworth, a real estate and financial adviser, helped Florida-based Hooters, which has a two-thirds ownership stake in the hotel, purchase the San Remo in August 2004.

Bosworth, through his firm Nth Advisory Group, is developing a Hooters casino in West Wendover 400 miles northeast of Las Vegas along Interstate 80 with a third-party developer.

When I was staying at the dump-shit Tropicana and my brother who traveled with me was geeked about going to Hooters for a chepass prime rib dinner because it was going to be done in the hooters experiance. I let him go on his own while I was in the midst of meeting up with a (girl)friend and I could think of less tacky things to do with a female than offer to pay for a cheapass cut of prime rib at an Hooters of all places.

Long story short the trip report my brother gave me was that a 75 year old hagg served him his shoeleather of meat and the only tittys he saw was the 45 year old chain smoking broad playing the 25cent duces wild poker machines. Aparantly all the "hooters girls" are in a sepearate area that he didn't bother to explore after that shitty meal. GG Hooters.

A cabdriver said it best when he told me that if a chick lives in Vegas and is hot, there's no chance in hell she's going to work at Hooters

I had a Hooter's Theorem I came up with a few years ago.

The worse the economy of the town, the hotter the Hooter's waitresses are.

I got a $5 chip from there. they have pictures of hot calendar models on them obv.

the place sucked.....they had fucked up rules on all the table games where the hooters girls were dealing......I might have been the only person that ever asked what thefuck was going on....the pit boss said that is the trade off.....like i was the asshole.

I stayed there one weekend a couple of years ago. The girls that worked at teh Hooters rest. werent supermodels, but they certainly werent ugly. The clientele was what you expect a bunch of fat older dudes and mid western dudes that never elft their home town.

I still had a great time there, as me and my friends were by far the coolest ppl statying there...possibly in that month.

I remember checking into the room, and instead of at least a table and a sitting chair, like every other hotel room in the world, they had a high table and a stool. After lookign out the balcony I said to my friend, i wonder how many of these stools get tossed out the window. Sure enough the next day, when I woke up and looked out....there were no less than 5 smashed up stools all over the place.
Its teh only hotel that I can remember that the windows in the rooms opened up all the way, and you really went on life tilt, you could just take care of it quick.....but as a result of me and my boy playing blackjack like maniacs, a host invited back and go ou thte LV race track and drive a few laps in an F1 car......we got the baller treatment for $25-100 blackjack bets. Pretty cool hook up that I have never heard before.

this is untrue here, the hotter ones did work weekends though but the place eventually went busto

It was a bad idea for two reasons:

1) The location (not on the strip) sucked.

2) Given that every nice strip hotel has hot cocktail waitresses, the thrill of seeing hot Hooter waitresses is negated.

Also, LOL at the pit boss who said "trade off" in response to why the rules sucked at the Hooter-girl blackjack. Please tell me you immediately got up and left the table at that point.

oddly enough I kept playing. My 2 friends didnt want to leave, and didnt care abou tthe rules. We were having fun, and somehow I went on an insane run, which resulted in the F1 car treament.

The bitch will be missed

I played about 90 minutes of BJ there in Feb. Bet between $25 and $50. Got an mail offer of 4 nights yesterday, YES that is all I played there. It is tiny, no valets, wife loves the wings tho, so had to go.

And the only thing worse than the economy in Memphis is the Hooters Girls, though that will probably change now that they took alcohol and nudity out of strip clubs last week.

or how small of a town. Beaumont Tx is a redneck refinary town that is doing great thanks to $100 a barrell oil, but cause its bluecollar Hooters does so well 99% of the girls are 5 stars making $500 a night

About a year or so ago, Macon Marc and I were throwing some dice in this shithole. We got on a good run and I cashed out and got a $1000 chip. They said it was THE ONLY ONE IN THE CASINO....... Knew they were doomed at that point.

Donk Up?

• June 10, 2008 Hooters Staying At least for now. The deal to sell the casino has been terminated, which means the Hooters theme isn't going away for the time being. The owners have indicated they will assess the situation to determine whether they "continue to operate under current ownership, look at another sale, or expand the property."

(From Las Vegas Advisor)

http://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/whatsnews.c...hatsnewsid=2750

I live in Detroit and can vouch for this. Of course, a Michigan 10 is a Miami or Vegas 7 and an LA 6.

Theory Broken: Go to the Hooter's in El Paso, Tx. Town is shitsville and the waitresses are not HOT. All the Hot chicks work at the local titty clubs where they make $$$.

Although the girl that waited on us invited us to go to "The Hideaway". She worked the door collecting the cover charge. Hot enough for Hooters, but could only collect $5 at the door at titty club. End Theourm