Vegas! hopping Times Sq. locations

Real Estate Weekly, Oct 22, 1997 by Lois Weiss

After letting its 17,000-square foot option run out at E Walk, Vegas! now struts the Deuce with its theme restaurant requirements.

Meanwhile, Billboard Live is reported to be in final negotiations for 50,000 square feet at E Walk, biting into what would have been a good chunk of the Vegas! space.

"We are in negotiations on the exciting Billboard Live concept with its principals, as we are with other significant entertainment companies at the moment," confirmed Joseph J. Simone, president of Tishman Real Estate Services. "It is unlikely we could accommodate both the space requirements of Billboard Live and the Vegas! venue."

Billboard Live's John Thall says he hasn't signed any deal yet and is considering a couple of sites in the Times Square area, including E walk.

A year ago, Los Angeles-based Creative Cafes' founder and chairman, Andrew Raines, announced the Vegas! lease by popping out of oversized dice while surrounded by leathered dancers as a recorded Elvis Presley sang "Viva Las Vegas."

But this latest move doesn't mean goodbye Times Square for Vegas! - just hello sooner. While E Walk is scheduled to open in the spring of 1999, Raines wants to satisfy investors who want a greenback influx for the 1998 Christmas/New Year's holidays as a tune-up for the great millennium celebration the following year.

Industry sources report the themed restaurant is now in discussions with two other building owners in Times Square, one of which has space ready to go, while the other would be ready by winter.

Sites in the area include the rising Durst project at 4 Times Square, where Rainforest Cafe has already signed on, and in the Bertlesmann Building, next to the Virgin superstores. The Forest City Ratner project on the south side of 42nd Street would open around the same time as E Walk, across and down the street at the Eighth Avenue corner.

Jeffrey Landers of Landers Commercial Real Estate, Inc., who represents Vegas!, would not comment on any negotiations, but said "We are totally committed to opening in Times Square. The first stove will be the flagship and we can't think or a better place for them to be."

Apparently, Vegas! had a rough time with its initial financing, but Raines blames that on "using the wrong investment banker." That is now under control, with two new investment bankers on board, and Raines expects completed financing shortly. Investment bankers are also lining up and waiting for the go-ahead for the theme restaurant's de rigueur IPO, Raines said, which is still at least two years away.

Raines confirmed they are also seeking an Orlando location as a follow-up spot, joining most every theme restaurant ever imagined in that southern resort area, where Universal Studios is now slugging it out with Disney for inventive themed eateries. The company is also working on some overseas territory agreements for London and the Far East.

"I won't have intermediaries and I don't want to move as quickly as the others did," Raines said, mindful of recent reports over, Asian turf problems at Planet Hollywood. "For my investors, I am focusing on New York, and we want them to know it will be a great money-maker."

He has hired "top theme restaurant people" who are working on the creation of the total Vegas! look, signage, entertainment, and retail goods. Soon, a nationwide restaurateur will be anointed to produce "great food, like when you went out in the 1960's and had a great big steak and fries."

An all-you-can-eat Las Vegas-style buffet and a brunch will also be an important part of the mix. Raines wants to be a good restauranting neighbor to local Times Square corporate workers by providing victuals and an environment they can enjoy at a price point "a tad above other themes, because we will be offering the entertainment."

Dramatic neon signage is expected to direct patrons to an indoor, two-story-high Las Vegas Strip, where they will enjoy rotating variety acts, show girls and guys, comedians, magicians, impersonators and jumbo film clips. But don't expect any sleazy side of the real Las Vegas strip here. The family-oriented entertainment spot will instead feature a games area with the latest in Sega technology. And of course, visitors will buy must-have logo items at the retail take-out counter.

Raines, who is also a lawyer, says part of his concept revolves on being a good community neighbor. Vegas! will he setting up a charitable educational foundation - similar to the one run by the Hard Rock Care designed to "help local causes for education and the arts."

But it will also provide the ability to operate fund-raising gaming nights and lively corporate parties. "Where better than in Vegas!?," Raines asserted.

As for Tishman, they are quite well, thank you. Tishman Construction is the contractor on 4 Times Square, and because Raines says they have a good relationship, he expects to use the nationwide firm as contractor wherever they open.

At E Walk, now in the excavation stage, Tishman has also just signed The Museum Company store for 4,500 square feet and the 13,000 square-foot Broadway City, a Long Island company led by Dan Cohen, to bring in the latest virtual reality rides and games from the major manufacturers.