Tavern developer withdraws plan after opposition in Centennial Hills neighborhood

At a neighborhood meeting at the Centennial Hills Community Center on Tuesday, developers proposing a Goldfingers restaurant and bar at North Hualapai Way and Elkhorn Road said if they couldn't cater to the neighborhood, they didn't want to be there.

The 30 or so neighbors in attendance were a little surprised when the developers acted on that statement, canceling a meeting and planning to withdraw applications to the city of Las Vegas for a tavern license and gaming license after listening to Providence-area residents.

Goldfingers, which has three locations around the valley, was proposed as a tenant at the Shops at Providence, a 30,000-square-foot commercial center being developed by Greenstreet Properties.

Stan Wasserkrug, a principal at Greenstreet and co-owner of Goldfingers, told neighbors at the meeting he was willing to make any change possible to move forward with the tavern, but several residents said they were deadlocked against a 24-hour bar with gaming in their neighborhood.

"I was always led to believe things like this, bars, would be done on Durango (Drive)," northwest landowner Cory Knauss said. "As soon as that tavern license is granted, everything can change."

Rich Hall, who operates Goldfingers, sympathized with the opposition.

"When there is a tavern license in my neighborhood, I always look at it closely," he said. "Nothing is more important to me than the integrity of the neighborhood."

Wasserkrug called it off about 45 minutes into the meeting.

"We're done. It's over with," he said on Wednesday. "All the locations we have operating right now, it's the same thing: we go in and find a property, and if the neighborhood is for it, we'll do it. Otherwise, we're not going to fight it. We live in those neighborhoods, too. They are our customers. We're a family-type operation even though we're a restaurant and bar, and we try to put ourselves in the place of the people living in these neighborhoods."

Wasserkrug said it won't affect the development of the commercial center, which is about 70 percent completed and 50 percent pre-leased. Among the planned tenants are Subway sandwiches, a dry cleaning business, a salon and an insurance office. He said a different restaurant would be a likely replacement for Goldfingers.

For more information on the Shops at Providence, visit www.greenstreetweb.com.

Contact Centennial View reporter Brock Radke at bradke@viewnews.com or 383-4629.