Downtown saloon shutting down, seeking relocation as 45 to lose jobs

A bartender in black booty shorts with silver bondage clamps and a matching crop top pours two shots of “watermelon moonshine.” Her sidekick then grabs a megaphone and shouts, “Clear the bar!”

Drinks are quickly pulled, ashtrays plucked away. The bartender climbs to the bartop and fiercely “clogs” to a medley kicked off by Toby Keith’s “Courtesy of the Red White and Blue (The Angry American).”

A typical Monday night at Hogs & Heifers Saloon, but there are not many nighttime hangs remaining at its 3rd Street location. The biker-styled tavern is fighting for its future and searching for a new downtown location. Its lease with owners of Downtown Grand, the hotel-casino across the street, times out at the end of July.

Hogs & Heifers’ final night of business at its current location is July 6. A total of 45 employees, including operations staff, bartenders and security officers, are set to lose their jobs.

Saloon owner Michelle Dell met with those employees Tuesday morning, offering that it will be business as usual through the closing, that the club will find a new home. The longtime tavern operator is planning to relocate to a nearby downtown location by 2026 “at the latest.”

Twenty years on

Hogs & Heifers opened in its current location July 6, 2005. Dell says she has been informed by CIM Group, Downtown Grand’s owner and also lease-holder of the Hogs & Heifers parcel, that incoming buyer Penske Media is not interested in retaining the saloon as a tenant.

Dell says she learned of these plans in an email from a CIM executive. A representative for Penske Media, which also owns Rolling Stone magazine, declined to comment when asked to confirm purchase plans. Reps from CIM Group and Downtown Grand have not responded to requests for comment.

Penske had announced in February it was seeking a downtown purchase, offering no specifics. Those plans were paired with the announcement Life is Beautiful festival would be shelved until further notice. Penske Media is co-producer of “Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified at Illuminarium” at Area15, further expanding its business interests in Las Vegas.

Far from a naive business operator, Dell has known the club was likely facing last call over the past several months.

“At the end of the day, the Downtown Grand has every right not to renew a lease if they don’t want to, and our 20-year term is up,” Dell said in an exclusive interview Tuesday morning, ahead of a news release outlining the club’s status. “It’s certainly not that we didn’t know it was coming up, but there have been lots of factors that have delayed our present ability to find a new home.”

A stalled sale

Prospective buyer John Unwin and his Corvus Collective had fallen short of making a deal in December. Dell said Unwin’s group was “very interested” in keeping the saloon open. Unwin was the original CEO of the Cosmopolitan, and briefly steered the development operations for The Drew before it was sold to Jeffrey Soffer and Fontainebleau.

Dell had also prevailed in a civil suit against Downtown Grand in 2021, awarded several hundreds of thousands in legal fees. But Dell says that money has been tied up in appeals.

Dell said her request to CIM Group to activate the “hold over” provision of its lease at 150 percent of base rent, month-to-month, has been rejected. That wipes out an opportunity for Hogs & Heifers to keep running beyond July 31, as the new owners map their future downtown.

“I don’t necessarily expect to stay there for good, but a short transition period would really be lovely, you know?” Dell said. “I mean, in two months time, is Penske and Rolling Stone magazine buying it, and then closing everything in two months? Is 3rd Street shutting down completely? It’s not likely. Don’t you think they’d want a little time to get their hands on the property and get their heads wrapped around it?”

Still bringing business

Dell emphasized her business has also been a destination, even if a niche one, for those who want an unvarnished tavern experience.

“We bring hundreds of thousands of people to that street, and our business doesn’t come from the Downtown Grand,” Dell says. “The Downtown Grand business comes from us.”

Dell opened the original Hogs & Heifers in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District in 1992. She opened a second Manhattan location eight years later, and zeroed in on evolving downtown Las Vegas entertainment and hospitality scene.

“I rolled the dice on Las Vegas 20 years ago when nobody else would. I was the very first business, to sign on to the (original) Downtown Redevelopment Project in 2004, and I stood in front of City Council and argued for this opportunity,” Dell said. “I said, ‘I want to be here, and I want to be on a block where I can hold events, and I’m going to hold rallies, and I’m going to hold Toys For Tots runs, and I’m going to do good things.’”

As far as the owner is concerned, she’s held her end of the deal.

“I lived up to my promise. I do really good things,” Dell said. “I use my business as a vehicle to do good things for my community every chance I get.”

A full-circle sign

The owner was asked about the familiar, circular sign at the club’s entrance, faded as if someone has tried to scrub away the logo. Not so. Dell had been collecting quotes to renovate the brand as far back as 2019, when business ceased in the pandemic.

The energy behind the project faded as Dell realized the business was not long for that location.

“We’ve talked many times about redoing it, but if they’re not going to renew our lease, why are we investing money?” Dell said. “I don’t see it as an omen of things to come, it’s just fading out, like the bar. I think our sign is a symbol of small business in America today, and evidence of our time spent on that site.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.