Zappos boss, pals help downtown eatery

Add the belly-busting restaurant Heart Attack Grill to the list of downtown Las Vegas businesses propped up by Zappos chief Tony Hsieh and friends.

The restaurant, which opened recently at Fremont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard in the Neonopolis shopping center, uses gimmicks such as an 8,000-calorie Quadruple Bypass Burger and referring to servers as "nurses" to lure customers in the door.

That the business is supported by personal investment from Hsieh and two of his friends was disclosed on the City Council's meeting agenda for Wednesday under an item seeking approval for a temporary tavern license under the new owners.

According to the agenda item, Hsieh owns 12.5 percent, Fred Mossler, who oversees several Zappos departments, owns 16.67 percent and downtown dealmaker Andrew Donner is listed as a 4.16 percent owner.

Jon Bosso, founder of the Heart Attack Grill concept, is listed as managing member with a 50 percent stake. Bosso has opened two other Heart Attack Grills, one in Dallas and another in Chandler, Ariz., that subsequently closed. According to the Dallas Morning News, the landlord hosting the Dallas location changed the locks Oct. 12 citing "de­linquent rent payment or violation of the tenant's lease."

When contacted Friday, Bosso wasn't interested in discussing the ownership arrangement. At first he denied there were other investors, saying, "I own 100 percent of the Heart Attack Grill."

When pressed further, Bosso acknowledged getting help but not sharing an ownership stake, describing the investors as "just nice guys" who helped him out.

The agenda item seeks a temporary tavern license to The Diet Center LLC., doing business as Heart Attack Grill, at 450 Fremont Street, Suite 130, and lists the ownership stakes. The space was previously occupied by Jillian's.

Zappos, an online shoe selling business based in Henderson and a subsidiary of Internet giant Amazon, has been spending heavily in downtown Las Vegas since late last year when the company announced it would move into the City Hall building at Stewart Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.

Under terms of the deal, Resort Gaming Group, Donner's firm, will pay $18 million for City Hall and then lease the building to Zappos.

The company plans to renovate the old City Hall and build new structures on several acres of property east of the building.

Hsieh and others close to the company also recently purchased Whirlygig Inc., the nonprofit company that hosts First Friday Las Vegas, a monthly street festival downtown.

The city is building a new City Hall at Main Street and Clark Avenue at a cost of about $146 million.

Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.