Tag: jethroscasino

With all the flap that's been going on about Jethro's Casino being built up in the hills across from Wal*Mart, another big casino project has been able to slip by almost unnoticed, until the Nevada Appeal highlighted it today.

The Brownstone GoldTown Hotel and Casino is being planned for the corner of South Sunridge Drive and Hwy 395. If I'm right, this is on the piece of land next to the Silver City RV Park that has been rumored to be getting a casino for about a decade now. Unlike Jethro's, this casino will definitely be down in the Carson Valley, and depending on how tall their 300-room hotel is, it could possibly be seen from all over the valley. Although I'd imagine the same restrictions that Jethro is currently fighting also apply to this Sunridge site, so the owners of GoldTown have probably designed their building to fit within the county guidelines, thereby avoiding all the trouble Jethro's gotten into. That means a short, squat hotel complex, rather than a big tower.

Construction is supposed to start by the end of the year, with Phase One open in 2009.

So this marks the third big casino project for the Indian Hills area. GoldTown will be at the bottom of the south slope, Bodine's will be at the base of the north slope, and Jethro's will be up on top of the hill. One of the commenters at the Appeal brings up the obvious question: "Just where are the patrons for these mega casino's coming from?"

Update: This photo shows where I think the project location is going to be. Just this side of the RV park you can see where the land was cleared away for a casino nearly a decade ago. We'll see if they have any better luck this time.

So the zoning change request for Jethro's Casino was approved on Tuesday, meaning most of the hurdles are cleared and they can start moving forward with phase one of the project. But it wasn't all good news for Jethro; the county denied some of his special variance requests, including the 200-foot tall oil derrick, the huge lighted sign that would have hung from it, and the 12-story hotel towers he hoped to build as phase two.

So we'll see now what Jethro's response will be. Will he be happy enough just that he's being allowed to get the thing built, finally, after fifteen years, or will he try to fight for some of these extras that were denied? The oil derrick isn't a killer for the project. It could still open and be successful without such a flashy beacon bringing people in. 200 feet? The Ormsby House is only 117, and you can see that from all over the Eagle Valley. I still have my doubts whether you could see the oil derrick from the Carson Valley, since it would be hidden on the opposite side of the hill, but at that height it just might be possible. Anybody have a red balloon and a 200-foot long string?

Now, denying the hotel towers is a bit more of a blow. I don't know what kind of market research Jethro did to show that those towers would bring in the people and always be full, but if there was a chance that they would be, the county turned down a lot of room tax revenue in exchange for aesthetics. I guess that's a trade-off they were willing to make, and one that Big George has to be happy about, but again: would that hotel tower have been visible from the Carson Valley? Where everyone is worried about ruining the views? Because that whole Topsy Lane area is kind of a "bonus" zone for Douglas County, a good place to put development that will be in the county, but not in the valley. Topsy Lane keeps the valley free of Wal*Marts and hotel towers, while still bringing in all the money that those ventures bring in. So I think that if you're going to let a developer go hog wild anywhere in Douglas County, Topsy Lane is the place to do it, while letting Carson City deal with the aesthetics.

So now Jethro's got the ball, and we'll see if he's willing to take these lumps and build a slightly smaller version of his dream, or if he'll keep on moving.

There's a real concerted effort being organized to oppose Jethro's Beverly Hillbillies Casino, which was recently announced for north Douglas County. The effort isn't being put together by grassroots citizens or residents, though, it's being spearheaded by Big George Ventures, a developer that has plans to build houses right next to where Jethro wants his casino to go. You can imagine them being upset about the plans, because I'm sure a project like this, with a 150-foot hotel tower blocking the views of the mountains, will make their subdivision considerably less desirable.

And so, to drive the opposition to Jethro's, they've launched a website, brilliantly named NoHillbillies.com. That's just about the best domain name they could have gotten, I think. And the site itself is actually pretty professional looking, especially compared to the Jethro's Casino website, which is a hot mess and a half. And even compared to Big George's official website, which is the very definition of minimalist.

One of the stumbling block's still in Jethro's way is the Douglas County Planning Commission, who need to approve the zoning changes and variances that are required to build the casino. So of course a lot of the force of the No Hillbillies movement is being directed at the county. The planning commission met Tuesday night to discuss and vote on the changes, and they came back with a tied vote. So the issue will be continued until the next meeting in July, and voted on again.

The Big George development was approved unanimously.

Again the comments section at the Nevada Appeal is mostly positive towards the casino idea, as are the letters to the editor in the Record Courier here and here. I think probably the reason there is so much support for the project here in the Carson Valley is the same reason there was support for Wal-Mart, and Best Buy, and now Riverwood. All that development exists in a nice little dead zone, on the north slope of Indian Hills, where we get all the tax money but we don't have to see the actual development. Even Jethro's 200-foot oil derrick that some people seem to be against. It won't loom over the Carson Valley, like No Hillbillies says it will. It will loom over Carson City; from the Valley it will nice and invisible. Out of sight, out of mind.

Except for the people who end up living in Georgetown Village. This is what they'll see.

No wonder Big George is upset.

So just in case you thought this latest announcement by Jethro about moving his casino project was just his usual hot air, now comes the news that he's sold the old Wal*Mart building in South Carson. This is the same Wal*Mart about which he said, "I can wait in perpetuity." I guess perpetuity is about two and a half years.

Actually, this is a good move for Jethro. It shows that he's not really the stubborn fool that he's made himself out to be over the last four years. Who knows how long he's been working on a deal to get rid of the Wal*Mart. Even as early as 2005 he was talking about the possibility of moving to Douglas County. So behind all of his bluster, he really did realize that the battle for Carson City was lost and was trying to move forward. His timing was a little off ("I'm going to put a shovel in the ground in June [2006], one way or another"), but even back then I think he knew he would have to sell out.

And even if he never built his casino, the building turned out to be a good investment. Jethro (or his partner, John King) bought the building for $4.3 million and sold it for just about twice that, $8.5 million. So it was a smart deal even if the place sat empty for four years. And now the money from the sale can go into the new location in Douglas County. Maybe this time all the stars will finally line up for Jethro.

And what about the Wal*Mart building itself? The new owner is a developer that specializes in taking old empty buildings and putting new tenants in. It's too early to speculate what stores might be moving in, or even if it would be one big retailer, several small ones, or even an "outlet mall" like the article says. All I know is that this same kind of company bought the old K-Mart building at the north end of town, and was supposed to be working out the same kind of deal for it. They were even supposedly getting Kohl's to move in there. Well, now Kohl's has picked Riverwood in Douglas County, and the K-Mart remains empty. So maybe this news really means nothing for the old Wal*Mart building, and it will stay like it is for the foreseeable future.

But at least Jethro has moved on, proving himself to be not quite so much of a grandstanding fool. Even the Letters to the Editor are on his side now.

Photo of the proposed site for Riverwood.

The "Riverwood" shopping center has been an on-again-off-again project for years now. This is the shopping center that's going to be built in Douglas County at Topsy Lane, right across the highway from Best Buy and the Carson Valley Plaza. Originally it was going to be built by AIG Baker, the same developer who built the Carson Valley Plaza. But then they backed out of the deal. Later on it was picked up again by Riverwood Redevelopment LLC, which is owned by Jay Timon, who is a former employee of who? AIG Baker. So I guess he's pretty determined to get Riverwood off the ground, and now he's confident enough to start announcing a couple of the big anchor stores. And the biggest by far is Kohl's, the major department store that recently had been rumored to be moving in to the old Kmart building at the north end of town. I guess that deal fell through, or it really was a rumor, because they sound pretty sure of themselves that they'll break ground for Kohl's this fall, and be open by October 2008. This store is supposed to even be a smidge bigger than the one they opened a couple of years ago in south Reno, so I don't know how we rate.

The other retailer announced is Sportsman's Warehouse, which I'm not a sportsman so that doesn't really get my skin tingling. Kohl's doesn't get my skin tingling either, except to know that my wife will probably be making weekly pilgrimages to the place, so it's going to be a part of my life no matter what. And of course where you have major anchor stores, you also get a lot of other, smaller places clustering around, and a lot of the time those stores end up being more interesting than the anchors anyway. So things look like they're set to take off at Riverwood this year, so we'll have to keep an eye on it.

This is also right next door to the land where Jethro recently announced he wants to build his casino. And luckily the article was written by the Record Courier, not the Nevada Appeal, so there is none of the teeth-gnashing that inevitably gets inserted into their articles about how Douglas County is "stealing" these stores from Carson City. Instead we get teeth-gnashing about how the county is giving tax breaks to the developer to build the shopping center. So pick your controversy, I guess.

So I finally found a negative opinion about Jethro's plan to build his casino in Douglas County, but it didn't come from residents, or county commissioners, or even his competitors at the Carson Valley Inn. It came from another developer, Big George Ventures, who is planning on building 360 houses right next to where Jethro announced his casino will go. having a casino right next door doesn't mesh well with their plans.

"We're trying to build a unique development where people can meet their neighbors," [Robbe] Lehmann said. "That won't work if people have to look at two hotel towers hovering over them."

The property was purchased with the area's commercial zoning in mind, but a casino at that location will significantly reduce the property values, Lehmann said.

"The land was supposed to be used for stores, not a casino," he said.

It's been a long time since we heard a peep from Jethro, and I'd been wondering what he's been up to. That's Max Baer Jr, the actor who played Jethro Bodine on the Beverly Hillbillies. For 20 years now he's been trying to build a Beverly Hillbillies casino somewhere in Northern Nevada. First he tried Lake Tahoe, but found out the zoning laws up there pretty much don't allow you to build anything. Then he tried Park Lane Mall in Reno, but that deal fell apart for reasons that nobody wants to admit. Then he bought the old Wal*Mart building in Carson City, but that plan got derailed when JC Penney and the owners of the Southgate shopping mall flat out told him that he was not allowed to build a casino on the property. Several years and several court battles later, the old Wal*Mart still sits empty.

So, what should Jethro do next? Move to Douglas County of course! His latest plan is to build his fabled Beverly Hillbillies Mansion and Casino along Hwy 395 just on the other side of the Douglas County border, on the empty land right across the highway from Best Buy. A shopping center has long been in the works for that corner anyway, so Jethro's in negotiations to get his casino built kind of adjoining the center, away from the highway and down the hill a bit. He's also talking about building a convention center right next door, which is something that the Carson/Eagle Valleys are very much lacking.

The whole article this time around is pretty much positive about the project. There have been a lot of voices in the past saying the Beverly Hillbillies theme was too tacky for the area, what with its flaming oil derrick, shotgun wedding chapel, and redneck limousine. But this time there's none of that, just talk about how it would be an economic boom, bringing people to the area that might not otherwise come. Even in the Nevada Appeal's comment section, which is usually full of cynicism and bile, the only negative comments are directed towards Carson City for letting Jethro get away and losing more tax dollars. There's nobody bashing the concept itself anymore, so that either means we're growing more mature as a people, or we don't think there's a shot in hell he's actually ever going to build it, so there's no use debating the details. Your call.

The landscape has changed in South Carson over the last few years since Jethro announced his project. Back in 2003 the Casino Fandango was a piddly little place, taking up a couple thousand square feet in the corner of an empty warehouse. But now the Fandango fills that warehouse, is planning on expanding it, and has also built or started building a three-story garage, a movie theater, and a hotel. All the things that Jethro wanted to build right across the street. So moving to North Douglas County, which is pretty devoid of gaming, is probably a smarter move to get away from the stiff competitive juggernaut of the Fandango. Although the new site is really only a mile or two down the road, and it's practically on top of the new casino that's being built at the corner of Clear Creek and 395. Which, coincidentally enough, is going to be called Bodine's. How confusing do you think that will be to out-of-towners, to have "Jethro's" and "Bodine's" right across the street from each other?

And you'll notice I've been avoiding revealing what my own opinions are on the casino. That's because I'm a flip-flopper when it comes to Jethro. I used to think it was a little too Las Vegas for the area. My exact words were "We have a distinct lack of laughingstocks here in the capital city, and we rather like it that way. Jethro’s casino, if it really gets built, is just going to make us the punchline of a lot of jokes." But at the same time, look at the amount of people, and the amount of money, going into Las Vegas every day. There's something to be said about populism, and if the people want a Beverly Hillbillies casino, then dammit we better give it to them.

I guess the question is: is that what people really want?

More news as it comes in.

It seems like every six to eight months we get an update on the saga of Jethro and his Wal*Mart. Today we got another report, and it's almost identical to every other one we get. JC Penney still won't let Jethro build his casino, but he still won't give up and sell the building to someone else. This years-long standoff is going nowhere fast, and it's just making Jethro into more of a joke the longer it lasts.

At least the building isn't completely empty. The article also catalogues the many uses that the building has been put to over the years, including a garden center, haunted house, batting cages, and even church services. But none of that blunts the fact that there is a list of stores stretching around the corner that would be a good fit for that building, and that the Casino Fandango, right across the street, has pretty much killed any kind of competition in the gaming space in that part of town. And soon the Fandango will have a movie theater, and hotel rooms, just like Jethro wanted for his place.

I think it's far past time for Jethro to give up and sell. I'd heard last year that he was looking at land in Douglas County to build his dream casino. Who knows? It might fly there. But any chance he had to put it in the old Wal*Mart building is gone, and the longer he keeps trying to make it happen, the worse it makes him look.