Maxim closure set for Sunday

The Maxim hotel-casino is set to close its doors for good Sunday, two weeks before anticipated, because a key supplier won't service the property.

In a three-paragraph statement issued Friday, Maxim executives said the 800-room off-Strip hotel would close Sunday. Officials said the hotel's last guests would check out by noon and the doors of the casino would close at 5 p.m.

A memorandum issued to the hotel's 791 employees said they would receive their last paychecks next Friday.

Ed Nigro, chief executive officer of Max Gaming LLC, the lessor of the Maxim, said in the statement that the property is closing down earlier than expected because Mission Industries, the vendor that supplies all linens to the hotel, would not continue to provide services on a cash-on-delivery basis.

"Without these supplies, without the ability to replace Mission (Industries') services and without the operating funds from Premier Interval Resorts, the Maxim Hotel must close prior to the lease termination date of Dec. 6, 1999," the statement said.

Andy Zimmerman, chief financial officer of Mission Industries, said the company would not make any public comment and would only correspond directly with Maxim officials.

Nigro and his executive team were in meetings Friday afternoon and could not be reached for comment.

Premier Interval Resorts, based in Dallas, also could not be contacted.

Nigro said in October that Premier has refused since August to provide the Maxim with $300,000 needed for operating funds and won't explain why.

Nigro was scheduled to meet with Premier lawyers earlier this month, but they didn't show up for the meeting and Nigro said he wasn't contacted.

Premier said two weeks ago it was "in negotiations with prospective operators to run the Maxim," but the company hasn't issued any statements about who would run the property.

Nigro has said that he suspects Premier wants to default on its financing agreement so that it can cancel long-term labor agreements with six unions that have helped keep the Maxim afloat. The unions have granted concessions to Nigro in return for contracts running through 2003.

Nigro believes investors plan to buy the Maxim and reopen it as a nonunion property.

The release issued Friday said Max Gaming has repeatedly sought a transition plan with Premier in the hopes of avoiding a shutdown, "however, each attempt remains unanswered."

"There's no way to protect those jobs," said Jim Arnold, a spokesman for the Culinary Union, one of the unions with which the Maxim has a contract. "It's a sad situation because the Maxim has been around a long time and many of their employees have been on the job for 20 years."

Arnold said the union has exhausted its legal efforts to keep the hotel afloat and is now concentrating more on seeing that employees are properly compensated and placing some employees in jobs at other properties.

The Culinary was one of the participants in a recent job fair for employees in which 27 companies interviewed Maxim workers in an effort to find jobs for them.

Arnold said the closure of the Maxim is an example of the down side of big resort openings.

"The bigger these properties get, the more smaller properties are getting hurt," Arnold said. "It worries me to death that we may see more closures in the future. It's great when the new resorts open, they're fabulous and they bring in a lot of tourists.

"But it's a shame that so many employees will be without jobs, especially right before the holidays."

A memorandum to Maxim employees dated Friday said employees' final paychecks would be distributed between 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Nov. 26 at the hotel's front desk. Wages for all hours worked through Sunday would be paid, but vacation and "floating holiday" pay won't.

The memo said vacation and holiday accruals would be submitted to Premier for payment. Employees also were told they would receive instructions on how to file for unemployment benefits when they receive their last checks.

When the property closes Sunday, owners must be on hand to see that critical sprinkler, alarms and fire-control systems remain functioning, a Clark County Fire Department spokesman said. The fire department is not expected to be on site when the final closure occurs.

A spokesman for the State Gaming Control Board could not be reached for comment on the shutdown procedure for the casino's 700 slot machines and 22 table games.

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