Trump International in the black after recession losses
Billionaire Phil Ruffin’s partnership in Donald Trump’s first Las Vegas venture is turning a profit after losing $8 million a year when the economy crashed.
Trump International Hotel opened eight years ago this week on land owned by Ruffin, who purchased Treasure Island in 2009.
Ruffin, in an interview last week with the London-based Financial Times, said the 64-story tower is “in the black.”
When the hotel, one of two planned, was completed in 2007, Ruffin said the partners were confident they had offers for most of the 1,232 guest suites. Instead, only 300 were sold and the second tower was put on hold.
So many kids with backpacks were seen checking in during the downturn that the $300 million gold-colored tower looked like one of the most luxurious hostels in the world.
Ruffin, 81, told the Wall Street Journal in February that he has interest in building a casino with the GOP presidential front-runner next to the hotel they co-own.
Trump’s previous ventures into gaming resulted in a number of bankruptcies in Atlantic City. Getting a Nevada gaming license could require a long and sometimes-tortuous vetting process.
A decision on the project is “so far in the future that feasibility studies have not yet begun,” said Michelle Knoll, Treasure Island’s senior vice president of communications. “Mr. Ruffin is constantly evaluating the most productive use of the remaining property,” she said Saturday.
SHECKY’S A SURVIVOR
Compulsive gambling was no joke for comedy legend Shecky Greene.
“One day I played blackjack and roulette at the same time. They put a chair in between,” said Greene, a Las Vegas headliner.
His exposure to gambling came early. “My father took me to the track when I was 5, 6 years old.
“My dad was a degenerate gambler,” said Greene, who inherited his father’s passion for the ponies.
“It’s a disease,” said Greene, who will be my guest for today’s sold-out “Conversations with Norm” at Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts. The event will double as an early celebration of his 90th birthday, which is Friday.
There were many days he would wager $5,000 to $10,000 on horses, said Greene.
Does he still bet on them?
“I just stopped last week,” he said, with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes. Those hard-chargin’ days are over. His recent bets were usually in the $1 and $2 range.
Greene was in his glory in the early 1970s when a Chicago friend, glass manufacturerJoe Kellman, named a thoroughbred racehorse after the comedian.
Shecky Greene the horse was so impressive he went off at 6-1 in the 1973 Kentucky Derby.
A sprinter, he set a scorching pace and led most of the race before he tired and finished sixth. But his furious pace forced the favorite to run each quarter faster than the previous one.
Which is why Secretariat, in sixth place when he mounted his comeback, set a Derby record that still stands today.
Shecky Greene never raced again. “It ruined him,” said his namesake.
After a starting salary of $1,500 a week at the Last Frontier in 1954, Greene saw his salary soar to $100,000 a week, “but it wasn’t bang, bang, bang. I had to save a couple hotels in between.”
Three years after arriving he moved to the Riviera in 1957 and the Tropicana in 1959. Both wooed him with deals that included percentages in the properties.
He was the king of the lounge acts and regularly overshadowed the headliners in the showrooms.
“I was the Jewish Wayne Newton,” he said.
THE SCENE AND HEARD
The family of late UNLV coaching legend Jerry Tarkanian recently thanked a local physician for his long years of service with some puppy love. They presented Dr. Steven Miller with a two-month-old St. Bernard pup. Miller’s 21-year-old son Jason Millernamed him Shecky Greene. Miller’s father was an internist for Tarkanian and Greene. Tarkanian died Feb. 11, 2015. He was 84.
ON THIS DAY
April 3, 1941: Thomas Hull opens the 110-room El Rancho Vegas hotel, the first resort on what would become the Las Vegas Strip. It features horseback riding, a large swimming pool and shows in the Round-Up Room. Famous weddings there include Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme and Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. The hotel would burn down in 1960.
THE PUNCH LINE
“A man claiming to be William Shatner’s biological son is suing the actor for $170 million. Shatner was shocked and said, I’m an actor?’” – Conan O’Brien
Norm Clarke’s column appears Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He can be reached at 702-383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find more online at www.normclarke.com. On Twitter: @Norm_Clarke
