Saturday, August 16, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Jethro casino plan bubbles up again

Max Baer Jr. relaxes at his Las Vegas home in November. AP Photo

CARSON CITY -- Nearly four years after his dreams for a Jethro's Beverly Hillbillies casino fizzled in Reno, actor Max Baer Jr. outlined plans Friday for a $54 million resort in a former Wal-Mart store a half-hour's drive away in Nevada's capital city.

"It's a very different concept from anybody that's doing anything else," Baer said in describing the 240-room hotel-casino venture that will key on the popular "Beverly Hillbillies" TV series in which he starred as the doltish Jethro Bodine.

Among the highlights: a 200-foot-tall, flame-belching oil derrick, a "Granny's shotgun wedding chapel," Uncle Jed's gift shop, Jethro's buffet and "Elly May's buns bakery." Baer also envisions a nine-screen movie theater and a dancehall-show lounge.

Jethro's Beverly Hillbillies Mansion and Casino also will have a 30,000-square-foot gambling area with 16 table games and 800 slot machines.

"This becomes an attraction," Baer said. "It's not a casino, it's an attraction. It's some place that if you're in Northern Nevada you have to go to -- you can't come up here and not go to."

Baer and his partners got the old Wal-Mart building for $4.3 million after Wal-Mart moved to a new location in neighboring Douglas County. They're enthusiastic about a feasibility study that shows continued growth in the area, and the potential for annual revenues in the $40 million to $46 million range. They also say low interest rates will help in financing the venture.

The goal is to complete the project in a year.

The management team proposed by Baer and subject to approval by state casino regulators includes Angel Naves as general manager and Bill Fletcher as casino manager. Both have long histories as hotel-casino executives in the state. Joe Bienz, another industry veteran, will be food, beverage and hotel manager.