Go to main content

Las Vegas Project In Trouble

September 30, 2008 | Other

New York billionaire Robert FX Sillerman is backing away from an ambitious Elvis-themed resort across the $9-plus billion City Center. Sillerman, in a Security Exchange Commission filing on Monday,indicated it is "unlikely" that his orginal Las Vegas plan will proceed.

"As a result of the dislocation and turbulence in the capital markets," the filing said,"the Company is reviewing its originally proposed program for the redevelopment of its Las Vegas properties.

"While no definitive determination has been made by the Company, it is unlikely that the program originally proposed will be undertaken. The Company intends to continue the properties' commercial leasing activities pending any such definitive determination."

When he announced his Elvis plans for Las Vegas 2 1/2 years ago, Sillerman indicated it would involve an interactive museum and Elvis theme show on the site, which stretches from the Harley-Davidson Cafe to Smith & Wollensky steak house along Las Vegas Boulevard.

Sillerman paid $100 million to the Presley family in 2005 for control of Elvis' name and likeness, but not his music.

There have been hints that Sillerman also planned an Elvis hotel on The Strip, but that may be a case of "Heartbreak Hotel."

City Center will feature a Cirque du Soleil Elvis show.

Source:Email
Palle wrote on September 30, 2008
"Source: Email"!? Oh now, come on
vegaselvisfan wrote on October 01, 2008
yeah, the source was that this news was emailed by me. if you want to find out the exact place of the article, search for the las vegas review journal and find norm's column of sept 30. he is stating that he saw sillerman's filing at the SEC. do you want me to find that too? that's the real source.
Ruthie wrote on October 01, 2008
Terrible economy or not, I could have predicted this would happen. I never took Sillyman at his word. Don't be surprised when he drops his "plans" for Graceland. There will be some excuse. Regardless of the money his company has invested so far, he will find a way to bail out & recup his money & come out ahead. That was the intention all along.
elvislives72 wrote on October 01, 2008
First off this is hearsay as there's no word from Robert FX Sillerman's own mouth or his company CKX. I have checked their site and no mention of it. Secondly Ruthie you are misinformed about Mr Sillerman. He's very wealthy, one of the richest in the nation. Right now's just not a good time really to invest 3 billion dollars into a dying economy on his part. Would you? The plans for Graceland are still as planned just delayed a little while the economy is in trouble but there's a sign of light on the horizon. He's already spoke about this and that some major pieces will be completed soon. Now's not the time to put up $250 million and start redeveloping Graceland or Whitehaven at this moment. He said within 6 months we'll know their full scale plan. That should be by February as it was in August when he said that. But I expect some major announcement before then, by January to tie in with his birthday.
Harvey Alexander wrote on October 01, 2008
So it looks like the circus isn't coming to town after all...
elvislives72 wrote on October 01, 2008
Still no word from FX Sillerman or EPE or CKX. This is either a misinformed report or simply someone who doesn't want to see it happen tryign to kill it. Sure is funny that back during Elvis Week Sillerman spoke about big plans for Elvis in Vegas. Now all a sudden it's canceled? Not buying it. Unless FX Sillerman himself says it's dead then it's going to happen.
Jumpin Jehosaphat wrote on October 01, 2008
At this point in time anybody who takes on great debt would have to be nuts....the loans to float business are going to be high thus making cost higher...time will tell.
MarkJ wrote on October 02, 2008
I have looked for any other reports on this cancelation and nothing shows up not even at the LV Reveiw Journal in their archives as mentioned by ponygirlup. Sounds like a phony writeup to me. If this was true it would at least show up in the google news search.
Palle wrote on October 02, 2008
Now this is what I call a source: gizmodo.com/5057955/elvis-comes-back-from-dead-to-prove-rfid-passports-lack-security. Nota bene, it's not an email!! ...however I'm tempted to email Elvisnews and telling them that Elvis is alive and kickin' on Mars
vegaselvisfan wrote on October 03, 2008
The article was there at the LVRJ site, but yes, it is missing now. I have emailed the journalist, Norm, and have not received a reply. Usually he is reliable and his column is very popular. I wonder what's up? I only reported what I saw in our paper. It WAS in print! hmm....