Elvis-themed resort looks less likely
Plans for an Elvis Presley-themed resort on the Strip continue to unravel.
FX Real Estate and Entertainment, which owns 18 acres across from City Center, failed to make its annual royalty payment of $9 million to Elvis Presley Enterprises by the Jan. 30 deadline, according to a Thursday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The investment group has until March 2 to pay the fee or the singer’s estate could terminate the contract.
FX said in the filing it does not have “the funds necessary to make the required payment.”
The investment group announced in late December it had defaulted on a $475 million loan from Credit Suisse. On Jan. 9, FX announced it had received written demands for repayment of all obligations under the loan.
No further information has been made available since that filing.
The land, which stretches from the Harley-Davidson Cafe on the corner of Harmon Avenue to the Smith & Wollensky building just north of MGM Grand, is currently generating revenue for FX mainly rental income. The Hawaiian Marketplace, Travelodge and several shops also occupy the land.
The land was acquired through six separate transactions totaling $221.3 million, or $12.5 million per acre, between March 1998 and May 2005.
FX also missed a $1 million payment to Muhammed Ali Enterprises and could see that contract terminate March 3.
FX is a partnership between hotel developer Paul Kavanos, residential and commercial developer Brett Torino and entrepreneur Robert F.X. Sillerman.
Sillerman's publicly traded company CKX, Inc. owns the name and image of Ali, Elvis and the operation of Graceland.
The group has repeatedly declined to talk about the Strip project.
FX, which is publicly traded on the Nasdaq National Market, has had its stock price fall from an offering-day high of $10.02 per share Jan. 10, 2008 to 8 cents per share in morning trading today.
Contact reporter Arnold M. Knightly at aknightly@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.
