Jan. 14--The big wooden ship-shaped sign that for about a decade advertised the never-built Caribbean resort on Flamingo Road, just east of the Strip, is gone, but a casino is slated to open soon on the 27-acre site. 

Tuscany majority owner Charles Heers bought the property from the Howard Hughes estate in 1988, but struggled to arrange financing for a themed megaresort he hoped to build. 
 

Instead, he built the all-suite Tuscany, an upscale hotel-casino Heers and his staff hope will capture business from local gamblers and visiting conventioneers.  Property general manager Bruce Fraser said the $100 million Tuscany is poised for success.  "This is the realization of Charles Heers' dream," Fraser said. "It's been worth the wait. Like the Maxim advertised 30 years ago, the Tuscany will be the toast of the town for the 21st century."  Tuscany's 716 suites opened for business in December 2001, but its new

Tuscany's 716 suites (600 sq. ft each) are located on 27 acres of landscaped grounds with pools, and fountains.

The hotel already employs about 250 workers, and will increase to about 650 when the casino opens. About 90 percent of those workers have already been hired, and Fraser said almost all of them have casino industry experience. 

The Tuscany opening follows the debut earlier this month of the $105 million Cannery in North Las Vegas. The properties cost almost the same amount, and both benefit from a slot floor stocked with new machines and ticket-in, ticket-out technology. 

Unlike the Cannery, the Tuscany is not a pure locals casino. The Tuscany's all-suite hotel room product is much more upscale than the Cannery's motel-style rooms, but the Cannery has a bigger casino with more dining and restaurant options. 

The Tuscany hotel's primary markets are overflow customers from nearby megaresorts as well as convention business, while its casino will target Strip workers, other locals and convention visitors, Fraser said. 

Location is a big advantage, as the Tuscany is close to the Flamingo Road-Strip intersection, two major convention centers, clusters of high-end apartments and time-shares and busy traffic on Flamingo and Paradise roads. 

Fraser said the Tuscany will aggressively market its amenities, including two restaurants, to lure locals to try the new property. 

"The locals are looking for a reason to come," said Fraser, a former Boyd Gaming Corp. executive. "The key is, how good is the offer? Just give 'em an excuse." 

One casino industry executive said the Tuscany's bosses have their work cut out for them. 

"Luring both locals and tourists has been a tough challenge for many Las Vegas properties, and the Tuscany's in a very competitive neighborhood," said the boss. "They have Ellis Island, the Hard Rock, Terrible's, plus the Strip, plus (Michael) Gaughan's (Gold Coast and Orleans) close by. It'll be tough." 

Aggressive direct mail to targeted local addresses, combined with a multimedia advertising campaign, will spread the word about the Tuscany casino opening, he said. 

"It'll be a soft opening, but our table games and our slots will all be ready to go," Fraser said. 

The 60,000-square-foot casino has 800 new slots. Eight table games, including one craps and one roulette table, are also ready to go. 

The casino opening should jump-start the property's lackluster hotel business, Fraser predicted. 

The property has filled on many weekends, but midweek performance has been lackluster, averaging about 40 percent occupancy. 

Tuscany executives hope the casino will boost weekday room rates and occupancy by more than 25 percent, with Fraser noting that 30 percent of callers to the property's hotel reservations line decline to reserve after being told the property currently doesn't operate a casino. 

They hope to boost weekend rates from about $129 to $159. 

The Tuscany plans to celebrate an official grand opening in a month or two, after its 40,000-square-foot convention center and its fast-food court open. 

The property hopes to target smaller convention groups. 

"We're looking for groups that want a little smaller scale, places where they won't feel lost," he noted. 

Heers, a Las Vegas builder and investor, and Gaylord Yost, an Arizona-based contractor, saved a lot of money by running the construction themselves, Fraser said. 

"This has the look of a quarter-billion dollar resort," he said. 

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(c) 2003, Las Vegas Review-Journal. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.