Wednesday, November 27, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
THE ALADDIN: Exec, developer tied to bid
Venetian official, N.Y. time-share builder may be planning offer
By JEFF SIMPSON
GAMING WIRE
People walk through the Aladdin's lobby Tuesday. Sources said a Venetian executive and a time-share builder may bid for the resort.
Photo by JERRY HENKEL / REVIEW-JOURNAL
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A top executive at The Venetian and a leading New York time-share developer are partnering in a planned bid for the bankrupt Aladdin, two industry sources said.
Time-share developer Ian Bruce Eichner would offer to buy the property, said sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. Eichner built The Manhattan Club, a New York time share, and is developing The Continuum, a $315 million high-rise time share project on Miami Beach's South Beach.
"The guy talks a mile a minute, and he's been talking to several possible operators about the Aladdin," one source said. "I don't know if he'd want to sell some of the Aladdin's rooms for time share or use the resort as a core around which to develop future time share product."
A second source said David Friedman, assistant to Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson, may be part of an Eichner offer. Friedman, through a spokesman, however, declined to comment Tuesday.
The Venetian's spokesman, Kurt Ouchida, refused to confirm or deny Friedman's interest in an Aladdin bid.
"He's in a high-profile job," the spokesman said of Friedman, who serves as Adelson's corporate counsel, is a corporate officer and an important number cruncher. "He gets a lot of offers."
Ouchida also declined to say whether Adelson or Las Vegas Sands were involved in a possible bid.
Eichner is reported to be friends with Donald Soffer, the developer of Turnberry Place on the Strip, South Florida's Turnberry Isle Resort and Club and other major projects.
Orlando, Fla.-based Planet Hollywood hopes to partner with an unnamed casino operator in a bid for the property, sources said Monday. If that bid is tendered, Aladdin bankers would likely weigh it against bids from Eichner and any other offers made for the $1.05 billion property.
Planet Hollywood would contribute its movie memorabilia, its name and its celebrity pull to the 2,567-room megaresort, but would likely contribute no money to the deal, sources say.
Sources recently said a planned Aladdin bid by Pinnacle Entertainment and Colony Capital was torpedoed by the slow pace of negotiations to buy the property.
