Sep. 26--A federal bankruptcy court judge on Tuesday ordered the $80 million sale of the troubled Regent Las Vegas to a Canadian investment firm. 

Judge Clive Jones made the order after the other leading bidder for the property withdrew its $85 million offer. Jones also decided that three other offers for the 54 1/2-acre property weren't qualified bids. 

Jones said the sale would take place Nov. 15. The decision is subject to appeal to either U.S. District Court or a bankruptcy appellate review panel, a lawyer for the property's creditors said. 

The Regent's buyer is Hotspur Resorts, a subsidiary of Vancouver, British Columbia-based Larco Investments Ltd. Hotspur's offer was selected as the preferred bid for the property earlier this month after two prior preferred bidders withdrew their offers. 

The $80 million sale price, less than half of the property's most recent appraised value, drew criticism from a lawyer for the property's unsecured creditors. 

"It's an understatement that we're disappointed in the quality of the bids," said Kenneth Pasquale, lawyer for the unsecured creditors. "Regardless of the chilling events of Sept. 11, this ($80 million bid) doesn't come close to the value (of the Regent)." 

Jones ruled that a $91 million offer from Las Vegas-based real estate developer Peccole Nevada and Texas-based Omni Hotels Corp. didn't meet bidding rules because a large part of the bid's value was based on notes the buyers would sell. 

Offers from Winecoff Hotel LLC and Cherokee Enterprise Inc. were turned down when Jones ruled that the bids were incomplete. 

After an $85 million all-cash bid submitted by San Diego-based hotel and real estate investment company American Property Management was withdrawn, Jones was left with only the Hotspur bid to consider. 

Pasquale asked Jones to grant prospective bidders one additional week to allow for delays caused by terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. 

Jones refused to grant the extension after Hotspur lawyer Jeff Patterson said his client would withdraw its bid if an extension were granted. 

"The most critical factor is that we may lose the Hotspur bid and have no bid at all," Jones said. 

The unsecured creditors hold about $120 million in Regent bonds, and likely won't receive any cash from the $80 million sale. 

The sale price will not fully reimburse the property's secured creditors. They include: Wilmington Trust, which leads the group of lenders holding the Regent's $90 million mortgage, $5 million in accrued interest and a $20 million loan to allow the property to stay open during the bidding process; and PDS Gaming, which leased $41 million worth of equipment to the Regent. 

PDS' leased items range from slot machines to furniture to the air conditioning system. 

Candace Carlyon, lawyer for the mortgage-holders, said secured creditors are unhappy with the $80 million bid. She nonetheless opposed Pasquale's request for an extension to the bidding process. 

"If the secured creditors thought a week's extension would result in a higher offer, we'd support it," Carlyon said. "We don't want to risk losing the one qualified offer we have." 

Greg Giordano, the Regent's gaming lawyer, said the scheduled Nov. 15 sale date makes it likely current property owner Swiss Casinos of America will be retained to run the casino, at least on an interim basis. 

"If the new owners want to continue operating the casino, they'd probably have to have (Swiss Casinos) run the casino until they could get licensed," Giordano said. "Or they could close the casino." 

Larco Senior Vice President Thad Alston said the company will likely retain Swiss Casinos to run the property's casino on an interim basis. 

The company has yet to plan its strategy for the property, Alston said. He didn't know what brand the property would carry, but noted his company owns hotels carrying the Marriott, Hilton and Westin brands. 

Larco owns as many as 60 separate properties, including resort hotels and two Canadian shopping malls. 

Originally named The Resort at Summerlin, the 541-room Regent opened in July 1999. 

Construction delays and marketing miscues plagued the property, as its targeted upscale customers failed to generate enough business to make interest payments on $366 million in debt taken on by Swiss Casinos. 

The Regent filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November. 

Los Angeles-based hotel operator Maritz, Woolf & Co. was the most recent preferred bidder to withdraw its offer to buy the bankrupt resort, pulling its $80 million cash offer earlier this month after failing to agree with Regent creditors about fine points in its offer. 

Peccole Nevada several months ago submitted a $150 million bid to buy the property with Heller Financial, a Chicago-based finance company. The Peccole offer was selected as the property's first preferred bid, but the offer was withdrawn in July after Peccole's agreement with Heller unraveled. 

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(c) 2001, Las Vegas Review-Journal. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.