Iconic Moulin Rouge Bought by an Australian Investment Firm: Is It a New Beginning for the Property?

Article by : Helen Dec 16, 2020

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It’s been a rough road towards the revitalization of the famous Moulin Rouge in Las Vegas – the first desegregated hotel in the whole city. Moulin Rouge has been bought several times over the past six decades, survived multiple fires, but still managed to retain its gambling license.

Now, there seems to be the light at the end of the tunnel. RAH Capital, a firm registered several days before the acquisition and backed by the Australian BBC Capital investment firm, bought the 11.3 acres where the hotel once stood. The deal cost the company $3.1 million, and it has agreed to pay $2 million plus interest more to remove the remains of the construction materials lying around on the property. So far, it remains to be seen which plans the buyer company has for the property, exactly. All we know for now is that RAH Capital plans to take advantage of the gambling license that came bundled with the property and build a casino on it.

Moulin Rouge opened its doors at the time when all other Las Vegas hotels were open to blacks only if they were employed there – in May 1955. It quickly became popular with the black entertainers that needed somewhere to stay while performing in other venues. But despite its popularity and snowballing fame, it was shut down just six months later, in October 1955, by Sheriff’s deputies. Two months later, it filed for bankruptcy.
Since then, the property has remained closed and neglected. Yet, every two years, it opens its doors for at least 8 hours and temporarily fills the property with video poker machines. Being open a minimum of 8 hours per two years is the state-mandated requirement for casinos to hold on to their gaming licenses. Thanks to its significance in the Civil Rights Movement, the venue was added to the United States National Register of Historic Places in 1992. Over the past six decades, there were several attempts to revive Moulin Rouge – or at least build something else on the vacant property.

In 2004, the property was acquired by the Moulin Rouge Development Corporation, which paid $12.1 million for it. Yet, the $200-million renovation plan was never completed, and the company went bankrupt in 2008 amidst the global financial crisis. In 2017, Clark County received the right to build on the property; yet the plans were quickly scrapped due to the public outcry. The County officials wanted to build a family services office, but the community pushed back against it due to the venue’s historical significance. As active as it is, the west Las Vegas community has expressed the desire to sit down with the new owners of the Moulin Rouge site. “We don’t know anything about their background,” former Assemblyman Harvey Munford said. “And they don’t know anything about our tradition in the west Las Vegas.”

It’s very unfortunate that we weren’t able to have someone local involved with the project. Now we have an out-of-state company that no one can get in contact with outside of a select few.

Several fires that broke out in the building were a major setback, too: the one that happened in 2003 practically gutted the complex. By 2009, there were already three fires that made the building unsuitable for renovation, which also prompted the local authorities to declare it a public nuisance and make a decision to demolish it. As of now, hotel wings still stand, although in an awful condition after decades of neglect; the landmark tower, exterior wall, and façade were torn down.

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