Landry's restaurant chain has no plans to buy property from Tamares Group, its executive said. Tamares Group’s landlord, Barrick Gaming Corp. lately purchased Barrick's downtown casinos. Landry's Restaurants Inc. Senior Vice President of Development Jeff Cantwell said there just haven’t been any talks about it at the moment. Landry's is, however, buying Golden Nugget casino from owners Tim Poster and Tom Breitling.
This past week, supervisors accepted the turn over of $10 million from Tamares to Barrick to keep the properties running. Barrick had not been making its loan payments, and is in financial troubles. The financial situation there is in a bit of a strain, and too much to handle for sponsors.
Last Wednesday, at a hearing, a Tamares official claimed that there had been unsolicited offers to buy the properties, at the moment nothing was taken up on. The company doesn’t have a stance on what they are planning to do with the properties. Landry’s has said they are planning on taking their business downtown, but not at an expense of paying off someone else’s debt.
At the moment, the Golden Nugget is Landry’s primary focus, and they are happy with that as a start. Any other venture would be welcomed, but Tamares is a little way off. It is just bad timing for the two to work together.
Many are speculating that in time, there will be a Landry’s buyout of Tamares. Each has something to gain from it, but at the moment it isn’t a thought, just a rumor. All rumors have a bit of truth, but in the near future, there doesn’t seem to be a future venture. |
