Tag: jethroscasino

Here's the latest news on Max Baer's Beverly Hillbillies Casino project, and like most of the news that comes out of that project, it's not good. A couple of years ago it had seemed like the project was finally a go to be built in Douglas County, near the corner of Hwy 395 and Topsy Lane. It would have been across from Best Buy. All the necessary approvals had been obtained from the county, his development company owned the land, and his neighbors in Douglas County, the Riverwood shopping center, were much more friendly than his neighbors in Carson City had been. The only thing standing in the way was a lawsuit from Big George, a housing developer who was building a subdivision nearby and didn't appreciate Jethro's hotel tower blocking the view. But even that seemed like it would be settled amicably, without killing the project.

But then came the downturn in the economy, which killed the Riverwood shopping center after they had already started clearing the site. That led to Jethro's being stranded, since it was relying on Riverwood for building the necessary infrastructure like water, electricity, and roads. Already it seems like Jethro has been turning his back on Douglas County, since he's announced intentions to buy the shuttered Silver Club in Sparks and convert that into the Beverly Hillbillies casino instead.

Now one of the last nails in Jethro's presence in Douglas County is being driven. The land he owns near Riverwood is being auctioned off, apparently for non payment on the loan. Jethro seems resigned to the Douglas project being dead, saying it's "in the hands of the attorneys now." Maybe now he'll descend on Sparks and put all his energy into developing that property.

Lots of people around Carson and Douglas are probably applauding this new development. The locals seems to have hated this project from the beginning, and even I thought it was too tacky and too "Vegas" for our area. But you can't deny that it would have been exciting to watch it be built, and it probably would have brought a lot of people to the area, because something like a Beverly Hillbillies casino would have brought people here who had never heard of Carson City and would never come here otherwise. But at the same time, it's been almost 40 years since the Beverly Hillbillies has gone off the air. Is it really that big of a pop culture phenomenon that it would bring in hordes of people? Probably not. In another 20 years the Beverly Hillbillies will be as relevant as the Katzenjammer Kids; still on the edges of pop culture awareness, but hardly enough to hang a multi-million dollar franchise off of.

Max Baer Jr. can never stay out of the news for long. He finally got every approval he needs to build his Beverly Hillbillies Casino in Douglas County, across the street from Carson Valley Plaza. But now he's looking at a place in Sparks to build the casino instead. I really think he keeps doing all this just because he likes to see his name in the paper, and he never has any intention to build anything. Either that or he's the unluckiest guy around to keep running into 15 years worth of problems on this project.

See also News Carson City's take on this story.

With the approval of the plans for the big marquee sign finally being obtained last year, it seemed like the Beverly Hillbillies Casino was all set to go, and that for the first time in 10 years nothing was stopping them from getting bulldozers on the site and getting to work. But in the six months since the sign was approved, nothing has happened, leaving us still to wonder: will Jethro's Casino ever get built?

Oh but wait, there's still the lawsuit. A suit came forward from Big George, a housing developer who was planning a subdivision near the casino site, saying the project should be stopped because of the effect it would have on the property values in their Georgetown Village residential neighborhood. This lawsuit has kind of been a stumbling block in both projects going forward, and now with where the economy has been headed for the last half a year, it might be too late for either of them to gain any steam, even if the lawsuit is dismissed.

And there's even more trouble, in the form of a second lawsuit, this one against Big George, but the threads in this story are already too knotted, so you can go to the Nevada Appeal's site to read about that one. The bottom line is that the troubles with this casino project are endless, and as soon as one issue is cleared up another three always take its place. It seems like the saga will never end.

It's an early Christmas in the Max Baer Jr household. After an entire year of wrangling and arguing and appealing, Max and the Douglas County Commission finally came to a compromise that everyone could agree on in regard to the sign for the Beverly Hillbillies Casino. The news so far has been a continuing series of denials by the county, as first Jethro came to them wanting a 200-foot sign, then started chopping it down in increments. Finally this week they hit on the magic number, 90 feet, with 600 square feet of signage. That was the magic spot for the commission to finally say yes and approve the damn thing.

Now it's time to get building. Work on Riverwood has already been going on right next door, so let's see Jethro finally put in some money to back up his mouth and get a few bulldozers on the site.

It looks like work is finally starting on the long-proposed Riverwood shopping center in Douglas County. This center is located at Hwy 395 and Topsy Lane, on the southeast corner. It was first announced back in 2002 or 03 when the Carson Valley Plaza across the street was built, and has had several false starts and stops. The last firm news I heard about it was in May of 2007, when they annouced Kohl's as a tenant and said they would open in October of 2008. Well, they were right about October, but it was the groundbreaking, not the opening, that would be happening then.

Some very large tractors, bulldozers and earthmovers arrived on the scene last week, and started to make quick work of clearing off the sagebrush from the land. This photo above was taken on Saturday, after only about one day of work, and you can see the progress they made in that short time. I went by today to check out their progress again, and they were halfway up the hill.

Now, clearing off the sagebrush isn't all they need to do. This site is on a hill, so they're going to have to flatten things out, just like they did with the Carson Valley Plaza. If I remember right, they spent weeks moving dirt around just to get the site level before they could even think of putting in utilities and grading foundations. So the tractors aren't going anywhere for a while, and I also have to question why they're starting this job in October, when the first snows have already fallen and winter is threatening to hit hard in just a short number of weeks. Maybe they want to get all the earthmoving out of the way now, because that's something they can do in cold weather, then when things start warming up in the spring they'll be set.

This is the same corner where Jethro's Casino is supposed to be built, if they can ever stop arguing about the sign and just get things done. But the casino is going to be built further up the hill. So this work might actually answer a nagging question of mine, exactly where the dividing line between shopping center and casino is going to be. We'll see how far up the hill they go with the bulldozers, and that should settle the question nicely.

I'm getting tired of writing this story over and over and over and over. But the proposed plans for the sign for Jethro's Casino has been rejected once again. Although the sign keeps shrinking every time they submit it; this time it was only 90 feet high.

Keep trying, guys! Maybe in four or five years you'll come up with a plan the county likes. Or maybe you could just stop fighting over this and build that casino already.

Again the Douglas County Commission has told Max Baer Jr. that his casino can't have a big sign. The rest of the project has been approved, but he keeps pushing on the sign. Jethro needs to decide if this is the hill he wants to die for.

The Record Courier has brought us the blueprint for Jethro's 2,400 square foot sign. Look at the little tiny man standing at the bottom of it. That will give you an idea of how big this thing is. There are two articles to go along with it: Beverly Hillbillies sign fails first test, and Baer’s big sign still looming.

Now remember, this sign is going to be on the north side of the hill. So even though it's Douglas County that gets to approve or deny the sign, the majority of Douglas County residents won't have to look at it. But it's perfectly placed, right across the highway from Best Buy, so that it will shine brightly like a beacon and be visible from every part of Carson City. Its size and position, looming at the top of the hill overlooking the whole town, reminds me of something else, but I can't quite put my finger on it...

Photo by Flickr user mimica

After years of trying, Max Baer Jr. is this close to building his dream casino. He has the land, he has the zoning variances, he has approval from the county, he says he has the money, but there's no way to know if that's true. Everything is in place, and he should be ready to build. So why hasn't he started yet? He's still fighting over the sign.

He started by wanting a 200-foot tall oil derrick shooting flames as the sign the draw people to the casino. That was denied, so he scaled it down to 143 feet, the same height as the hotel towers. That was denied, so then he cut it down to "a 109-foot tulip-shaped sign". The Planning Commission just denied that, too. The Commission says that the limit on signs is 30 feet, and that's plenty. Jethro, apparently, just wants to keep chipping away until he can find a compromise. And since the process can take three to four months each time, it could be years before they finally hash out a number and get to building.

Also the article talks about how the sign face would be 2,423 square feet. That is an unfathomable number. That's bigger than my house. I don't think the casino in Las Vegas have signs that big.

I think it's time to give in and just start building. He got 98% of what he wants for this project. Don't worry about the sign. The draw is going to be the hotel building itself, perched on the hillside. A sign isn't going to make too much difference. The time for talk is over. Now it's time to put shovels in the dirt.

Max Baer Jr. sat down with USA Today for an interview. In it he mentions that Jethro's Casino is planned to open in 2010: "Either it will happen or I will die; there's no stopping me." Considering the number of obstacles he's run into, I would say there's no stopping him. Everyone in town has tried.

I'm not believing anything about opening dates until I see some ground broken, though.