Off-strip hotel-casino to be auctioned

Debbie Reynolds may well have performed her last show at the resort that bears her name.

The Debbie Reynolds hotel-casino will be sold at public auction Aug. 5, said Todd Fisher, Reynolds' son and the resort's chief executive. He said there are no plans to close the resort.

"The property and its assets are going to be auctioned off," Fisher said.

For sale are the resort's 193-room hotel and casino, which includes a 500-seat showroom, and the 6-acre site upon which it sits. The assets will be auctioned as a whole unless a minimum bid offer -- in the $10 million range -- is not met.

"The assets will be sold separately if the bidding doesn't reach the value of the mortgages or just reaches the value of the mortgages," Fisher said.

Not included in the auction is the Hollywood Motion Picture & Television Museum. The museum is owned by a separate company that pulled its assets out of the Debbie Reynolds in May.

The resort has received two pre-auction bids of $14 million, but both carry heavy restrictions, Fisher said. Fisher highly doubts an acceptable pre-auction bid will be made.

Reynolds is willing to negotiate licensing her name to the resort's buyer, but if the buyer isn't interested, her association with the resort will end, Fisher said.

"If a purchaser elects not to use Debbie's name and likeness, she will not be back there," Fisher said.

Reynolds is currently away from Las Vegas shooting a television movie for Disney, Fisher said.

The Debbie Reynolds resort declared bankruptcy last July, after ILX Inc., a Phoenix-based time share developer, backed out of a $16.8 million acquisition offer. At the same time Debbie Reynolds, who owns 26 percent of the company's stock, declared personal bankruptcy. Reynolds had guaranteed a $1.1 million loan obtained by the resort in early 1997 to hold it over until after the ILX sale.

After declaring bankruptcy, the resort reached a $14 million acquisition agreement with Florida time-share developer David Siegle. But Toledo, Ohio-based Calstar LLC made a competing offer in bankruptcy court in April, forcing Siegle to up his offer to $15.6 million.

Siegle -- who had planned to add 1,000 new time share rooms to the resort -- dropped his bid in May after deciding that $15.6 million was $1.6 million more than the Debbie Reynolds was worth. Siegle's departure let Calstar step in as buyer with its $15.5 million backup offer.

In June, Calstar backed out of its offer, citing environmental concerns with the property. At that time, Fisher said the resort would likely be liquidated.

The August auction will require interested bidders to place a deposit of $500,000. The winning bidder must pay 20 percent of the bid price at the time the bid is placed. A backup bid will be allowed, Fisher said.

A recent appraisal found the resort's assets to be worth $18 million, Fisher said.

"If somebody wants an opportunity to get into Las Vegas in an inexpensive fashion," Fisher said, "this is a great opportunity."

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