New owners of Rio have raised $850m in capital for what is surely going to be a fail casino

https://www.yogonet.com/internationa...ew-investments

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With remodeling plans for its Rio Hotel & Casino Las Vegas property in mind and targeting investment in similar properties, Dreamscape Companies, a New York-based real estate development and investment firm founded by industry veteran Eric Birnbaum, announced Wednesday it has successfully completed an $850 million capital raise managed by Wells Fargo and Raymond James.

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Initially it was planned to make the property a Hyatt and do away with gambling there. Those plans were somewhat abandoned, and instead just one of the towers will be branded Hyatt, and the property will remain as Rio.

Oddly enough, they are hiring Anthony Marnell, who built the original property in 1990, to help supervise the renovations this year.

The plan is to make the Rio a high end property, with somewhat of a jungle theme, but in an understated, classy manner.

I have no idea how they believe this is going to work. Did they learn nothing from the struggles of Resorts World and the former SLS? High-end visitors do not want to stay at a crappy location away from the center strip action. If your hotel isn't located on the strip between Wynn and Mandalay Bay, it's not going to attract people who want to spend big money.

There is a small chance that these plans will not come to fruition, however. The Oakland A's are seriously considering a move to Las Vegas, and one of the possible sites for a new ballpark would be where the Rio currently sits. However, it seems they prefer the site of the Tropicana, and there are other sites proposed as well. Additionally, it is possible the A's will stay in Oakland.

This whole project seems to have fail written all over it.

If the A's move to Vegas, then Oakland will have went from three major sports teams to zero in the span of a few years (Warriors moved to SF as you know).

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

https://www.yogonet.com/internationa...ew-investments

(If a big "X" shows up on the screen, just click on it and the article will appear)

Quote:

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With remodeling plans for its Rio Hotel & Casino Las Vegas property in mind and targeting investment in similar properties, Dreamscape Companies, a New York-based real estate development and investment firm founded by industry veteran Eric Birnbaum, announced Wednesday it has successfully completed an $850 million capital raise managed by Wells Fargo and Raymond James.

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Initially it was planned to make the property a Hyatt and do away with gambling there. Those plans were somewhat abandoned, and instead just one of the towers will be branded Hyatt, and the property will remain as Rio.

Oddly enough, they are hiring Anthony Marnell, who built the original property in 1990, to help supervise the renovations this year.

The plan is to make the Rio a high end property, with somewhat of a jungle theme, but in an understated, classy manner.

I have no idea how they believe this is going to work. Did they learn nothing from the struggles of Resorts World and the former SLS? High-end visitors do not want to stay at a crappy location away from the center strip action. If your hotel isn't located on the strip between Wynn and Mandalay Bay, it's not going to attract people who want to spend big money.

There is a small chance that these plans will not come to fruition, however. The Oakland A's are seriously considering a move to Las Vegas, and one of the possible sites for a new ballpark would be where the Rio currently sits. However, it seems they prefer the site of the Tropicana, and there are other sites proposed as well. Additionally, it is possible the A's will stay in Oakland.

This whole project seems to have fail written all over it.

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..or next to the Rio
https://www.fox5vegas.com/2023/02/17...jXf31P2TumKVO0

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Originally Posted by tableplay

If the A's move to Vegas, then Oakland will have went from three major sports teams to zero in the span of a few years (Warriors moved to SF as you know).

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Gee, is race a factor in these relocations?

Yeah, Zeus forbid that you might want to run a viable business in a jurisdiction that ain't a corrupt, chaotic, crime-ridden, nigger-infested shits-hole. Nope, can't have that, hey hey.

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Originally Posted by soxfan

Yeah, Zeus forbid that you might want to run a viable business in a jurisdiction that ain't a corrupt, chaotic, crime-ridden, nigger-infested shits-hole. Nope, can't have that, hey hey.

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Dan reported that the A's might move to Las Vegas. If they did, then Oakland would be down to zero major sports teams.
I did not comment about whether the move would be good or bad or what the motivation would be.

This is interesting. I stayed at the Rio during its original soft opening, when it was considered a luxury property and its future was envisioned as such. At the time, its rooms were considered state-of-the-art. I stayed there several times during that stretch in part because I realized rates would be rising 50-100% when the soft opening had ended.

I suspect maybe this could work for an older crowd turned off by the youngsters at Cosmo and the latest iterations of the Imperial Palace and the Barbary Coast. An adult enclave away from the younger folk. Maybe. Lower key. Less casino and more resort. I just don't see it thriving without a monorail-type transport to the strip, and given the highway layout, that's impossible.

What about focusing on Spanish speaking customers?

South / central American focus, with the foods and attractins they might prefer?

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Originally Posted by MisterV

What about focusing on Spanish speaking customers?

South / central American focus, with the foods and attractins they might prefer?

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That was implicit in the original opening and demographic targeting. High end international guests, Spanish speaking. It's so weird how a high end international casino devolved into a CET bottom-dweller with no maintenance and no plan.

I remember when the Rio had the highest rated buffet in town.

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Originally Posted by mickeycrimm

I remember when the Rio had the highest rated buffet in town.

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They had both the regular buffet and the seafood buffet and yes I agree, they were worth the trip off the strip. And the show in the sky was also decent free entertainment.

They tried the bowling alley at one point which was a drunken fest.

I remember they had once of the first McFaddens in the country, I remember seeing Steve O from Jackass there many years ago.

And of course who can forget when they went into business with the Sapphire strip club at the pool. Of course it didn’t end well. 😂😂😂

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/a...sapphire-pool/

https://www.pokernewsdaily.com/rio-s...ug-rings-3763/

https://cjaye57.wordpress.com/2009/0...as-vegas-pool/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/prostit...less-rio-pool/

I forget I'm kinda one of the older guys now. I believe I only saw the sky show once but did manage to eat at that seafood buffet. It was a thing in LV but then I felt like it went downhill or rumors started floating around about food poisoning. I can't recall - then it was gone.

You can still walk up on the 2nd floor that is open to the floor and find the staircase that goes up to the sky show control room.

Wow the show went form 97 - 2013. Surprising.

I always wanted to write a comical tale of how shitty the WSOP was... the day the sewage smell just appeared all over the floor of the RIO. Then they had a truck out there pumping something.

Being a victim of a door-pusher because I didn't check the door when I left (roommate was in there and awake). Trying to track the person down with a laptop and tracking my phone.

Those shitty rooms in that one tower they dust off during WSOP. Comical how bad of shape they are in given it being a Caesars property.

Once they had a deal on something you could buy at the All American grill for WSOP and after a few days they raised the price!

Having this hot pitboss get on me and friends for sharing card info at ultimate holdem but me not giving one fuck given I'd been robbed by their shitty doors not working properly.

I believe I was there for the first WSOP which would have been in 2005. Food options were horrible. Shitty hamburgers on a cart that were overpriced.

Lots of good times though.

Ever since the Marnell's sold to Harrahs/CET/El Diablo, it has been one downhill progression. Rooms have not been redone since 2008.
The baseball stadium would barely fit in the existing parking lot and leave little room for parking.
Then, driving access would be terrible - Valley View and Twain?
If they added that Coast Warehouse property next door that would add to the stadium parking, but still traffic would be a mess.
When Marnell ran it, it was great. Fortunately, he is on the team for the re-build.