Circus Circus to foot bill for Strip beautification

It's not easy being a two-story motel along the Strip these days. Novelties such as a 1960s-style glass pool no longer appeal to the throngs of giddy visitors headed Bellagio's way.

Low room rates don't even catch tourists' attention anymore.

"We had one good day out of the whole year -- Dec. 31," said Debbie Shoofey, owner of the Happi Inn on the south end of Las Vegas Boulevard. "I was sweating it just to make payroll."

So when owners of once-bustling Strip motels were told last summer they would have to pay about a quarter-million in assessments to landscape the Las Vegas Boulevard median between Hacienda Avenue and Russell Road, they publicly criticized Clark County's formula.

"We never felt that assessment by frontage property was fair," Shoofey said, referring to the $880 businesses are assessed for each square foot of property that fronts the Strip.

The motel owners' nightmare finally ended Monday when Circus Circus Enterprises, which will unveil its 3,700-room Mandalay Bay in March, agreed to pay for the entire landscaping project.

Circus Circus had already committed to pay half the bill, which representatives estimated to be about $4.5 million. After discussing the project with county officials, Circus Circus determined it could do the job faster and for less money.

Attorney Larry Semenza said the county would have to design the project and put it out to bid. Circus Circus wants to, and likely will, have the landscaping in by the March 2 opening of Mandalay Bay.

It also agreed to maintain the median until the county establishes a maintenance district that would include the southern end of the Strip. Semenza said the project, which should cost a total of $3.2 million, will resemble the palm tree-dotted median in front of the Luxor.

He said the motels in the shadows of the mega-resorts aren't obligated to pitch in any money.

"The project will benefit us and properties across the street; it will raise the value of the property," Semenza said. "We'll work out something that works for everyone. We are neighbors, we're not a heavy-handed group."

Shoofey and Glass Pool Inn owners Allen and Susie Rosoff are thankful they won't have to scrape up the money to landscape the median.

"We're pleased because we can't afford it," Shoofey said. "Business has not been good."

But the owners recognize the landscaping project is one of many obstacles they may face as their segment of the Strip that stretches between Hacienda and Russell Road becomes one of the last sections not occupied by the more popular mega-resorts.

"It just takes the right person who walks in and wants to pay for Strip frontage," Susie Rosoff said. "There are a group of motels that could be purchased on the Strip."

"The project will benefit us and properties across the street; it will raise the value of the property. We'll work out something that works for everyone. We are neighbors, we're not a heavy-handed group."Larry SemenzaCIRCUS CIRCUS ATTORNEY

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