kvbc.com
News 3 Investigators: El Rancho Follow-Up
The deal is done; it's doomsday for another strip property and that's great news for locals
and visitors alike that've been anxiously waiting to erase the eyesore on the strip.
The El Rancho will be gone in the blink of an eye.
Turnberry is the company putting up luxury condos just to the east. About a month ago
News 3 was the first to tell you Turnberry entered into a purchase agreement to buy El
Rancho and Tuesday escrow has officially closed sealing the deal to get rid of el rancho
for good.
The shuttered El Rancho.
The Vice President of Turnberry, Jeff Soffer says, "It's definitely not a beautiful thing to look
at this run-down, decrepit hotel there."
Travis Moen and Helen Anderson say, "It's been there a long time."
Keeping tourists wondering and nearby businesses waiting.
Connie Witt says, "This El Rancho is a blight on the whole neighborhood."
Hoping for change that seemed like it might never come.
Louise Goranson says, "I'm hoping with your documentation and everything that
something can be done with it."
Now that Turnberry's bought this blight, something will be done.
Soffer says, "It was a good opportunity for us and the sellers were anxious to do
something with it."
Myrna Williams says, "So, having that cleared off and the prospect of having a very fine
property there is very exciting to me because I represent that area and people live in close
proximity to that area so it's exciting to me and it's very exciting to the surrounding
property owners.
An impending implosion is the likely result of our exclusive 10-month investigation.
Soffer says, "There was a lot of muddy waters within the company that owned it."
We exposed 8 years of decay, dozens of health and safety violations, government
inaction and allegations of investor fraud, a mystery that will soon be just history, it's better
days forever memorialized in the casino legends hall of fame.
Soffer says, "I think that the county will be really happy that we're taking it down. It's not
something that belongs in Las Vegas anymore. It doesn't give a good image."
Chris and April Frank from Richmond, Virginia say, "There's a lot of opportunity for
improvement here. It seems like there's a lot of work to be done also so I hope they get to
it soon. It looks like maybe they should just rip the whole thing down, start all over again."
KJC |
