Wednesday, April 27, 2005 | 10:51 a.m.
The company that operates the PT's Pub franchise in Southern Nevada will introduce in southwest Las Vegas its "ultratavern" concept that has been a big success in Reno.
Tightly held Golden Gaming Inc., which operates 27 taverns under its Golden Tavern Group subsidiary, also will be moving the company's corporate headquarters to the ultratavern site at Jones Boulevard and the southern Beltway.
A summer opening is planned for the posh 10,000-square-foot, two-story Sierra Gold property, said Steve Arcana, vice president of operations for the company. By contrast, the company's other operations fly the flag of PT's Pubs, PT's Places and PT's Gold, with the taverns ranging in size from 3,000 to 6,000 square feet.
The Sierra Gold will be the centerpiece of the 100,000-square-foot Sierra Gold Business Park, a mixed-use development that will include office and retail tenants.
The business park developer is Sunset Jones LLC, a separate investment group.
Arcana said Golden Gaming currently is headquartered on South Valley View Boulevard, but will move to what will become the company's most ambitious Southern Nevada project.
Sierra Gold is the high-end pub entry in the Golden Gaming stable of properties.
In Reno, the company also operates Sparky's and the Waldorf, a tavern on the UNR campus. The company also operates its first Sierra Gold, in Reno's South Meadows area.
"With the success of Sierra Gold in Reno, we've decided to build Las Vegas' first ultratavern," Arcana said.
Arcana said the South Meadows Sierra Gold, open since October, is consistently packed during lunch hour and at happy hour.
What differentiates the Sierra Gold brand from the others under Golden Gaming's control? Size mostly.
The casually upscale environment and refined dicor are designed to appeal to a well-heeled crowd. The first-floor bar can seat 40 people at once and the bar area houses 10 of the property's 30 big-screen television sets. In addition, progressive jackpot amounts are flashed on plasma screens above the bar, giving regular customers a progressives scoreboard.
A series of 24-inch wood trusses 18 feet high give the bar a spacious feel and the wood trim is designed to exude a warm atmosphere. There are oversized pool tables with first-class sticks and billiard balls rented by the hour.
Sierra Gold will offer a lunch menu by chefs formerly with the Charlie Parker organization.
The second floor -- it's Golden's first two-story pub -- offers private function space capable of seating more than 100 people.
"There's no place like it in town right now," Arcana said. "You'd have to go to a casino to get the kind of accommodation we offer."
The upstairs area has a full audio-visual presentation system, a private bar and a small dance floor along with six plasma screens.
The second floor also has a private 12-seat boardroom for corporate meetings.
Golden Gaming is in the process of signing tenant agreements for the business park and has nailed down a contract with Starbucks to build a store in the complex.
Arcana said Golden Gaming is taking advantage of Southern Nevada's growth explosion. The company is focused on four taverns opening this summer with three new PT's Golds properties -- at Ann and Revere in North Las Vegas, at Horizon and Horizon Ridge in Henderson and at Fort Apache near Sunset in Las Vegas.
By the time the current building boom is completed in September, Golden Gaming will have 41 properties. All but five have restricted licenses, meaning they can operate a maximum of 15 slot machines.
A Golden Gaming subsidiary operates a slot route servicing convenience stores and other bars and taverns. The slot route business currently includes 2,100 machines in Las Vegas and 200 in Reno.
The company also operates three casinos in Black Hawk, Colo. Between its operations in Reno, Las Vegas and Colorado, Golden has 1,100 employees.
As a privately held company, executives are not compelled to offer financial details about the company.
archive
