Former Wendover, Utah Mayor and local entrepeneur Steve Perry was the winning bidder for the Rusty Palm in a sparsely attended auction Thursday.
Perry’s winning bid of $450,000 was less than double the $250,000 opening call.
According to the rules of the auction the bid must be approved by the seller, Celtic Bank, who also has first right of refusal.
The Rusty Palms won final approval from the West Wendover City Council in November 2008 and construction began almost immediately and continued through the winter on the estimated $2.5 million project. However while workers began building Weinstein began to receive troubling news, several of the businesses who first expressed interest in coming to the Palms either backed out or went out of business as the Great Recession began to take its toll in Utah.
Facing prospects of a diminishing list of possible tenant Weinstein began to look for ways to save his investment and found one– turn it into a casino.
The only hitch to the plan was West Wendover 150 room hotel room minimum ordinance passed the year before.
Six years ago the council passed an ordinance severely restricting new casino development and putting a requirement that a new casino had to have at least 150 hotel rooms before it could win council okay.
The restrictions are not unique to West Wendover. Indeed several Nevada cities have similar restrictions on the books.
However in West Wendover’s case the city has not seen a new casino since 1986 with the exception of a small slot operation inside the Pilot Truck Stop.
