Clark County bids on historic Moulin Rouge site in Las Vegas

Clark County is one of three bidders vying to buy and breathe new life into the historic former Moulin Rouge property, the site of Las Vegas’ first racially integrated hotel and casino.

A judge is expected to soon decide who will be the new owners of the Bonanza Road property that’s seen decades worth of failed redevelopment attempts since a brief heyday in the 1950s.

“If we were to acquire the land, we would recognize the historical significance in some way,” county spokesman Dan Kulin said.

The property could be used for a county-owned building that staffers who work in leased space now could move into, Kulin said. The Family Services department’s main administrative offices occupy leased space on Martin Luther King Boulevard, Kulin said.

The Moulin Rouge in the 1950s was the first place in Las Vegas to open its gaming, restaurants, lounges and hotel rooms, and in 1960 it hosted the 1960 meeting that effectively ended segregation in local casinos and resorts. The historical significance earned the site designations in 1992 on the National Register of Historic Places and the local register.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said the city and county managers have been talking about the site, and she hopes that develops into something “really concrete.”

“I think it would be wonderful,” Goodman said.

Goodman is also a proponent of reviving the Moulin Rouge in Las Vegas.

Clark County submitted a $5 million bid for the 15-acre site, the property’s receiver Kevin Hanchett said.

Another group that’s devoted to revitalizing the city’s historic west side neighborhood put in the first bid, for $4.5 million bid, aimed at a revival. When the county’s bid topped theirs, the group upped its offer to $5 million, said Katherine Duncan, president of the Ward 5 Chamber of Commerce.

Duncan was expecting a decision on the new owner Friday, but the earliest a decision is expected is next week.

With that enhanced offer coming in Friday, Hanchett asked the judge to continue the proceedings, allowing the bidders to “submit their final and best offers.”

Duncan’s group envisions a multifaceted development at the site — an African American cultural center and museum, a hospitality training facility, a motel, a shopping center and eventually, a revival of the Moulin Rouge hotel and casino itself.

The property has been in receivership for about three years. Roughly 300 investors are waiting to be repaid after a failed attempt to redevelop the site in 2004. The receiver is tasked with taking possession of the property and preserving it and ultimately selling it when a court order authorizes a sale.

A third firm, Real Estate Management Services LLC, submitted a $6.2 million bid, Hanchett said.

That firm had the property under contract recently but failed to fund escrow, information Hanchett gave the court. The group put $100,000 down as part of its newest bid, but the previous financing issue could work against them.

Contact Jamie Munks at jmunks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0340. Follow @JamieMunksRJ on Twitter.