Extreme Makeover: Silverton far more attractive after $150 million renovation

Jerry Fink

Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 | 8:42 a.m.

It took 10 years and a ton of money, but the once-humble Silverton is finally gaining some respect.

Since its recent $150 million expansion, which included the addition of the 165,000-square-foot sporting goods store Bass Pro Shops, the casino on Blue Diamond Road west of Interstate 15 has been booming.

"Locals have embraced us," general manager Craig Cavileer said. "And about 60 percent of our business is tourists. We're luring them from the Strip the MGM, the Monte Carlo.

"Where else can you spend three hours indoors and not have to pay anything?"

In addition to the Bass Pro Shops, the makeover of the Silverton (known as Boomtown when it opened in 1994) includes:

And there is more to come.

Over the next five years another $500 million or so will be spent on further development of the 100 acres at the site.

"As you and I speak we're working on the next phase," Cavileer said.

That includes moving a segment of Industrial Road, which currently slices through the Silverton property.

"We already have a permit to move it so that it will go around us," Cavileer said. "That will give us more surface parking out front and then by the end of the year we will break ground on a parking garage, a new tower and 30,000 square feet of meeting space."

The new tower will more than double the number of hotel rooms.

In addition to the existing casino, another is on the drawing boards, to be built at the southern end of the property.

"That, of course, is predicated on the continued success of Las Vegas," Cavileer said.

And then there will be a time share complex of 1,500 to 2,000 units that will be completed in six or seven years.

If you think traffic is bad at the intersection of Blue Diamond and Industrial now, wait until the construction crews begin putting out the orange cones. But relief is in sight. The Nevada Department of Transportation is going to realign Blue Diamond -- moving it south so that it will connect with Windmill Lane.

"Blue Diamond goes under construction in April," Cavileer said. "It will include a new bridge over the interstate, 11 lanes wide. The road will be 11 lanes beyond Rainbow Boulevard."

The project will cost about $45 million.

Roski bets on Vegas

Edward Roski Jr., who declined to be interviewed, is the man behind Silverton.

The 64-year-old Roski is head of Majestic Realty of Los Angeles, which built and owns the Staples Center. He owns about 10 percent of the center and a small percentage of two of the arena's tenants, the Lakers of the NBA and the Kings of the NHL.

The Oklahoma native, an ex-Marine and a graduate of the University of Southern California, was No. 260 last year on Forbes magazine's list of the world's wealthiest individuals. His net worth was listed as $1.1 billion.

Roski built Boomtown in 1993-'94. The construction cost was about $70 million.

The property was leased to Hollywood Park Inc., which managed it until 1997 when the agreement was terminated and Roski took control. He changed the name to Silverton and brought in his own staff to run the facility.

In 2000, Roski announced plans to buy the 3,200-room Las Vegas Hilton for $365 million, but the deal fell through and he has since concentrated on the Silverton.

Outdoor paradise

"I came here in January 1998 for the purpose of repositioning Boomtown into something different," Cavileer said. "We recognized the unique opportunity in Vegas to develop beyond just gaming."

Cavileer says he spent two years learning the gaming business and developing a master plan for Roski's 100-acre site.

"We are in a unique location," he said. "We are the first thing on I-15 from California -- we wanted to be aggressive, but different. We didn't have a billion dollars to spend; we're not a large public company, we're a large private company.

"So we started imagining some different things, which is what what led to our relationship with Bass Pro Shops."

Bass Pro Shops is the centerpiece of Silverton. It has put the place on the map.

Cavileer said he became aware of Bass Pro Shops about four years ago when he was traveling around the country looking for retail outlets that might fit in the Staples Center as part of the redevelopment of downtown Las Vegas.

"I came across Bass Pro Shops, which had four stores at the time," he said. "I saw the great numbers of people who shopped there, and the unique merchandise."

By the time they struck a deal, the outdoor retailer had 20 stores around the nation -- mostly in the East. The furthest one West was in Houston.

It now has 25 stores. The one at Silverton is now the furthest West.

What intrigued Cavileer about the merchandiser is that every time a store opened, it would draw in 3 to 4 million visitors a year. Half the customers traveled more than 200 miles to get there, and they spent an average of four hours in the store.

"In gaming our whole mission is about time on property and about being unique -- slot machines and tables are the same everywhere," Cavileer said.

He said other casinos have unique entertainment -- a Cirque du Soleil production, Celine Dion or something else to draw in the crowds.

"We didn't think a show was in order for use," Cavileer said. "We wanted something that would keep them here longer during the day than an hourlong show."

Shopping was the concept that appealed to him.

"People shop all day, seven days a week," he noted.

Customers of the Bass Pro Shops come in all ages and levels of income.

"There is something for everyone," he said. "You can have as much fun shopping if you earn $20,000 a year as you can if you make $2.2 million."

Once they entered an agreement with Bass Pro Shops, they began looking at the rest of the property.

"We wanted to take the spirit of the lodge and develop it throughout the property," Cavileer said. "But we wanted to broaden the idea, to make it sexier, with LED lighting against rock, stone and water. We Vegas-ized the lodge."

The intent, he said, was to draw shoppers out of the Bass Pro Shops.

"We wanted everything here to stand alone, to be interesting by itself," he said.

Which is why the casino spent $8 million on a fish tank in a lounge.

In addition to the relaxing atmosphere of the lounge, the casino will offer a wide variety of entertainment in its theater.

"We plan on having 30 or 40 events a years," Cavileer said. "We only have 800 seats so we can't have the major headliners. But we will have entertainers like Eddie Money and .38 Special."

Hootie and the Blowfish was there for the grand opening last week. A boxing card is set for Jan. 29. A speaker series also is planned; former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer is among the scheduled speakers.

"We'll have a lot of unique things," Cavileer said.

After 10 years, finally the unique thing won't be customers. There seems to be plenty of them finding their way to Silverton, in spite of the orange cones.