Tuscany is dream come true

Building the Tuscany Suites Hotel and Casino was a lifelong dream for Charles Heers.

For 53 years, the Las Vegas developer has built apartment complexes and homes in Southern Nevada. Now, with the completion of the first phase of his new casino, Heers is one step closer to the structure he always wanted to build.

The developer first purchased the land on Flamingo Road east of the Strip from the Howard Hughes estate in 1988. Right away he set up a ship with a sign on it that read, "Caribbean Hotel Resort, coming." For years, the ship stood while the developer struggled to arrange financing for his planned megaresort.

"Everyone remembers the old ship," said Bruce Fraser, General Manger of the Tuscany. "At one time they talked about holding Thanksgiving on it."

Fraser said the ship burned down years ago when a fire lit by homeless people living within the structure burned out of control.

The Tuscany's hotel was completed a year ago. The first phase of the casino opened Jan. 17. Both have more of a Mediterranean than Caribbean theme. Fraser said the change was made because Caribbean had already been done.

"Mr. Heers always used to say that Steve Wynn stole his idea when he built the Treasure Island," Fraser said.

The hotel and the casino, built on the almost 27-acre site, are independently accessible. Hotel patrons don't have to walk past slot machines to get to rooms. Instead, they enter a traditional hotel lobby decorated in hardwood and flanked with a fireplace.

"When I first walked in here, I said, 'Wow.' This place has a calming effect other places don't have," Fraser said. "We want that synergy to flow on into the casino. Hopefully, we'll develop a reputation with locals and tourists. Word of mouth could make the Tuscany a must see."

The hotel and casino's interior design can be credited to the developer's daughter, Deborah Heers. She said the draw of the casino was too much for her father to resist. While the family tried to convince the 76-year-old man to relax and enjoy his past work, Heers was determined to follow through with the Tuscany.

"You can't be here and not want to be a part of all that," Deborah Heers said of her father's wish to own a casino. "This is a big project this late in life, but he'll never stop working. My brothers will retire before he does, I'm sure."

In addition to his brother Harold Heers, the Tuscany owner also received help from his partner Gaylord Yost, an Arizona-based developer who shared the dream. So far that dream has been laid out in four phases. The hotel was the first phase. The second begins with the 800-slot machine casino.

"The entire operation is 100 percent ticket in, ticket out," Fraser said.

A 50-foot center bar acts as the hook, drawing patrons into the slot area while a small pit holds table games. The casino's first phase also includes a 350-seat, 24-hour coffee shop. In the next few months, Fraser expects completion of the second-floor corporate meeting space above the new expansion. In addition to a business center with fax, photocopy and computer capability, the corporate space will include 35,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space. Sliding walls will allow conference planners to break the room into smaller areas.

"We think this will be a major venue for the middle-end to smaller businesses," Fraser said. "We have break-out rooms, but you can still serve a larger group for lunch. We're five minutes from the airport, and you could walk to the Sands."

The second floor also will provide space for the hotel and casino's administrative offices.

As Fraser showed off the new casino's surveillance room, he explained that keeping tabs on the players below has gone through a multitude of changes.

"In this room, we've come from tape to all digital," he said.

Digital recordings can be kept for the necessary amount of days and then, if gaming authorities need to investigate, surveillance workers can burn a CD-ROM copy and hand it over. No physical storage space is needed.

As far as recording accuracy, Fraser said the new cameras can't be beat.

"We can zoom in close enough to read the serial number on a bill as they feed it into a machine, and it's all in full color," he said.

The next phase of the casino, set to open in the next few months, will introduce a bar with a performance lounge, a food court and a race and sports book. Behind the table games, a sushi bar and seafood restaurant is planned.

As for the final phase, which exists only on the drawing boards, a 300-room tower and an expansion of the casino could become realities.


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