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8-Year Effort About To Pay Off For MPTV’s Reed
By Jack Burney
Published by OTCNN.com
10/17/2000 09:48 AM EST
“We’re going to make it happen,” said MPTV, Inc. CEO Hurley Reed, in a rare and exclusive interview with OTC News Network, “thanks to the patience and perseverance and confidence of our shareholders. We fully intend to be a global leader in the $3-billion time-share industry.”
Reed referred to the recent acquisition of a joint venture partner’s share of Lake Tropicana Garden Apartments in Las Vegas, and the commitment of $52.5 million in financing to refurbish 40 “villa” units and build two 155-unit towers for time-share sales.
It has been a long bumpy road for the company that bought “Lake Trop” out of bankruptcy in 1992, but Reed is “as confident as I can be, until the closing is done. Until then, it’s not real.” He means he has been there before – to the point of closing – and then seen it come to nothing.
This time, it looks good, Reed said. Financier Oxford International is scheduled to come to Vegas late this week for a “pre-closing review” of the property. It could be a done deal by Halloween. Then Reed’s 8-year dream for the property can start to become “real.”
At present Lake Tropicana is 184 garden apartments in 23 buildings. Built in 1974, it is still operating and producing enough revenue to maintain itself. Revenues currently pay the maintenance. It’s a break-even situation now.
“We’re going to re-do 5 buildings with 8 apartments each into 40 time-share units,” said Reed. “We have approval form Clark County. We will convert these 40 units to what we call villas, and sell them to time-share buyers. The refurbishing should be complete within 90 days of the closing.”
The second phase, financed by Oxford, calls for the construction of two towers with a total of 155 2-bedroom suites each, with a 58,000 sf building in between for a fitness club and possibility other time-share-orients facilities. All of which adds up to more than $344 million in sales over the next 5 years.
“It will probably be a year before we can begin construction on the towers,” Reed said.
Reed’s dream began in 1992 when Consolidated Resort Enterprises bought Lake Trop out of bankruptcy in a joint venture with All Star Resorts, and acquired the name and trading symbol of MPTV, Inc.
“Nobody seems to know what ‘MPTV’ stands for, but it isn’t ‘motion pictures and television’ – I know that much,” Reed said. There was a $2 million mortgage to pay off, and it had to be cash.
Time share firms like MPTV like to acquire property from the owner on a “just in time” basis, Reed explained. The owner released a unit when it is sold, a unit at a time. But Fannie Mae refused to put Lake Trop in just-in-time inventory.
“We made several abortive attempts at financing,” Reed said. “We once got to the closing, all the papers ready, and the lender couldn’t come up with the money.”
No closing date has been set yet, but now, MPTV is 100 percent owner of the property and has every reason to believe its plans will be fully financed before the end of October, and Reed is looking to the future.
“There are other opportunities in time-share on the West Coast and in Hawaii,” Reed said. “We want to find property owners who will joint venture it with us and release it unit by unit as it’s sold. That avoids the need to put up millions and hold the property till it’s all sold.”
Reed revealed guardedly that MPTV is talking seriously to such an owner in Hawaii, and has targeted others in California for investigation.
The future is “very bright -- we want to be in the time-share business. We’re looking to grow from acquisition of both individual resorts and smaller time-share companies. Revenues from this property (Lake Trop) will fuel our future growth.” Reed said. “We want to be a $100 million-a-year company.”
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