CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Robert Cashell Jr., son of Reno Mayor Bob Cashell, was approved Thursday by the Nevada Gaming Commission to run Fitzgeralds Casino & Hotel in downtown Reno.
Cashell will hold a five-year lease on the hotel-casino. He's also in a partnership with the new owners, downtown Reno developers Fernando Leal and Don Wilson, that will enable him to wind up with an ownership interest at Fitzgeralds.
Leal and Wilson also are in the process of turning the former Golden Phoenix hotel-casino in the downtown area into a luxury condo tower, the 380-unit Montage. Cashell said there's no immediate plan to change the Fitzgeralds name.
Cashell was upbeat when asked by Gaming Commission member Sue Wagner about the potential for Fitzgeralds, which had been in bankruptcy prior to ending up in the hands of a group of creditors. The creditors sold the property for an undisclosed sum to Leal and Wilson.
'It's at ground zero of downtown Reno redevelopment,' said Cashell, describing the hotel-casino's proximity to the Truckee River and to the ReTrac railroad trench project which is in line for more improvements. He added the hotel-casino is just two blocks from a proposed Triple-A baseball stadium.
Cashell said the new ownership group plans to immediately spend $2 million to $3 million on improvements at Fitzgeralds, and additional spending is planned in the future. Plans call for renovation of all 350 hotel rooms, although there's no estimate yet on what that would cost.
Mayor Cashell told casino regulators earlier this month that he has abstained from voting on gambling matters since his son became involved in the group buying Fitzgeralds. His son also operates the Alamo Travel Center in Sparks and the Topaz Lodge & Casino at Topaz Lake in Douglas County.
Fitzgeralds is the last of four casinos previously owned by Fitzgeralds Gaming Corp., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000. A court-appointed supervisor, Jeffrey Gilbert, has run the property for the creditors since mid-2003.
The club is named after its original owner, gambler Lincoln Fitzgerald, who moved from the Detroit area where he reportedly was associated with the notorious 'Purple Gang' that brought in liquor from Canada during Prohibition.
Fitzgerald bought into the Nevada Club in downtown Reno in 1946. He survived a gangland-style murder attempt in Reno in 1949, and opened Fitzgeralds in 1976. He died in 1981.
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