Plans for downtown club, bar advance

The staid brick building at the corner of Fremont and Sixth streets appears vacant.

There are no doors along its Fremont facade, and a tiny entrance on Sixth Street is locked.

But construction is humming along inside the former Sears department store at 601 Fremont St. where developer Carlos "Big Daddy" Adley and his wife, Ava, plan two businesses on the 14,000-square-foot ground floor: a music venue called Fremont Country Club and an upscale sports bar and pool hall, Backstage Billiards.

Both are to open Labor Day weekend.

Developers and large-scale projects for the Fremont East Entertainment District have been announced in the past, but the neighborhood's uncertain prospects and the recession indefinitely delayed many big ideas. Spurred by renewed interest in downtown, with businesses such as Le Thai and the video game bar Insert Coin(s) packing folks in each weekend, the district now is hurtling forward.

Some thought Adley's clubs would fall by the wayside, as other projects have faltered in the past. That's far from the case, said Adley, who is no stranger to downtown redevelopment. He and his wife built the Velvet Margarita Cantina in a rundown Hollywood block that is now thriving.

"We don't count on financiers or outside factions. We write our own checks, and we get things done," he said.

In 2010, Adley leased for 30 years the 601 Fremont St. building from the city of Las Vegas. The development agreement stipulates that construction on the building must be completed by February 2013.

"We're six months ahead of schedule," Adley said.

The lease stipulates a base rent of $233,000, which will be waived for five years after his first-floor bars open. Adley also has an option to buy the building from the city, which used it as a work card processing center after Sears moved out.

The Las Vegas native is putting some $10 million into the 601 Fremont project.

The 10,000-square-foot Fremont Country Club is little but a frame right now, but come Labor Day, the venue will look like "Tex-Mex swanky chic meets space cowboy," Adley said.

That theme encompasses cow-skin ceilings, antler chandeliers and chrome horseshoes, and acts in rock, blues and alternative music gracing the club's stage three to four nights a week.

Music promoter Michael Chugg is a partner in the project and will book the acts.

"We're not going to be doing local garage (band) nights," Adley said. "Not going to happen."

At the 4,000-square-foot Backstage Billiards, gold records will cover the walls and patrons will sip microbrews -- courtesy of business partner Terry Caudill -- ensconced in booths made out of Anvil cases, the rugged equipment containers used by musicians to protect their gear. DJ Scotty Boy and DJ Lethal of Limp Bizkit are also involved in the venue.

"It's a natural fit," said Alexandra Epstein, executive manager of the neighboring El Cortez. "Music has been growing organically over the past few years, and it makes sense to have a larger venue for the demand that is already growing."

The two bars, which are expected to create 75-100 new jobs, are just the first phase of Adley's 601 Fremont Plaza project.

Within the next six months, he plans to announce details for the building's second floor, which he envisions as a home for designer retail stores, and the third floor, where he would like to see a TV production studio in partnership with a big-time comedy act.

Fremont East's development over the last year or two has out-of-state developers taking a closer look.

Tom James, vice president of The Venue Scottsdale in Arizona, traveled to Las Vegas in early March to chat with downtown stakeholders about the neigborhood's redevelopment. James' company four years ago acquired a parcel at Fremont and Eighth Streets, across the street from the now-shuttered Western Casino, to develop a 34,000-square-foot event space and comedy club. Construction was expected to be completed by the end of 2008.

Then the recession hit. Plans for the Venue of Vegas were put on hold. But every few months, the landowners drop by to see whether the Fremont East district is ready for the project yet.

"No one wants to come in and spend millions and millions of dollars to find that everyone is three to five years behind," James said.

James said the new City Hall, Zappos' planned downtown move and the Plaza's renovations are signs that he can restart the Venue of Vegas after completing an 8,000-square-foot expansion in Scottsdale that should be finished in December.

The company will turn its attention to Las Vegas next summer. At the end of 2014, the Venue of Vegas will open, James said.

The company is spending north of $10 million, including the land acquisition, to build the Venue.

Contact reporter Caitlin McGarry at cmcgarry@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273.