The Gold Spike might get new owners and a regeneration into a four-star property. From the LVRJ:
The rise of boutique-chic in Las Vegas could start at one of downtown’s shadiest dives.
A Miami developer with an eye for converting rundown properties into trendy boutique hotels has an agreement to pay $15.6 million to buy the Gold Spike, a longtime locals grind joint at the intersection of Ogden Avenue and Fourth Street.
Gregg Covin, 38, said he could close on the Gold Spike as early as September and reopen it as an upscale boutique hotel with rooms fetching $125 to $150 per night. The current owners, Tamares Las Vegas Properties, confirmed the purchase agreement.
Covin plans to visit Las Vegas next week to take a closer look at the Gold Spike. But he’s already confident the Spike’s smoky ambience and grungy reputation won’t take the shine off his vision.
“Our specialty is taking crack houses and turning them into four-star boutique hotels,” Covin said. “I think the Gold Spike is perfect for that.”
If Covin succeeds, the rechristened Gold Spike would be the first boutique-style hotel in a downtown market that’s currently dominated by value and volume-oriented casino properties attached to the Fremont Street Experience.
I say don’t even bother with renovating the hotel: just “antique” it a bit more with smoke, cigarette burns in the furniture, and general decay, and just raise the room rates to $249/night one morning. Call it “Crackhouse Chic” or whatever you want–it might work. You could get the actor who played Bubbles on The Wire to work as a host (in character, of course).
I’m not saying it’s a good idea–it’s just an idea.
Seriously, this is the kind of project that, if it’s successful, makes the developers look like geniuses.