Greektown's Future Still Uncertain

Hold, or fold?

That's the simple question, with complicated answers, facing the Sault Tribe of Chippewa as it decides what to do about Greektown Casino-Hotel.

The bankrupt Detroit gambling hall that began as a dream of self-sufficiency has turned into a legal nightmare and financial albatross that's divided 38,000 tribal members, choked the tribe's finances and forced its leaders to rethink long-term ambitions aimed at improving the lives of one of the state's most historically oppressed people.

"It wasn't supposed to end up like this," said Bernard Bouschor, a former Sault Tribe chairman who now sits on its board of directors. "Not after we spent so much time and money."

The predicament in which the tribe finds itself is serious: likely losing Greektown, which by revenue is the smallest of Detroit's three gambling halls, to creditors or a new buyer in a federal bankruptcy court hundreds of miles from home. It deeply contrasts with the bright promise the casino held for the tribe when the fight for a crack at the downstate market first started two decades ago.

For the complete story, please see Nathan Hurst, Greektown Casino: Waiting for the chips to fall, The Detroit News, August 10, 2009.

Businessman Vies for Greektown

Bloomfield Hills businessman Tom Celani said Thursday he will offer to buy the bankrupt Greektown Casino for $450 million.

Celani, one-time part owner of MotorCity Casino, told The Detroit News his lawyers would file the purchase plan with the bankruptcy court today.

He said he has partnered with Connecticut-based hedge fund Plainfield Asset Management to craft the deal. Plainfield has other gaming interests and licenses in Nevada, Colorado and New York. "We've been working over the last six months trying to get the banks to sit down and negotiate with us," Celani said. "It's been tough, but we think we can get this done."

He and his partners have quietly acquired about $10 million in Greektown debt over the past few months, to gain the right to file a plan with the bankruptcy court.

Bringing the casino out of bankruptcy, Celani said, would be the first step toward revitalizing the entire Greektown area of shops and restaurants. He wants the casino to take the lead in sprucing up surrounding businesses and buildings, and would spearhead an effort to mall off parts of Greektown and make it more pedestrian-friendly.

"We can make it even more of a destination than it is today," Celani said.

For the complete story, please see Nathan Hurst .Businessman to bid $450M for Greektown Casino, The Detroit News, July 31, 2009.

Chippewa Tribe May Lose Greektown

After more than a year, the Chapter 11 saga of bankrupt Greektown Casino-Hotel is moving toward conclusion, but the casino's owners aren't in for a happy ending.

Likely to be a victim of the casino's restructuring will be the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa, which also operates smaller gambling halls in the Upper Peninsula.

The only bankruptcy exit plan sitting before Judge Walter Shapero would strip the tribe of its ownership and award Greektown's primary creditor, Merrill Lynch, with majority control of Detroit's third-largest casino by revenue. Plans call for the casino to exit bankruptcy by September.

Bondholders and some other creditors would be left with nothing as well.

For the complete story, please see Nathan Hurst, Tribe may lose Greektown Casino-Hotel, The Detroit News, July 22, 2009.

Greektown Casino Disappointed with Low Bids

Greektown Casino-Hotel will spend more time looking at ways to reorganize its debts rather than selling the property to exit bankruptcy, after multiple bids came in lower than expected, a financial adviser for the gambling hall said Thursday.

Chuck Moore, an adviser from Birmingham-based Conway MacKenzie Inc., which is working on Greektown's bankruptcy, told the Michigan Gaming Control Board at its Thursday meeting that his team would shift focus toward looking at ways the casino can reorganize some $777 million in debt.

"There was disappointment at the values of the bids we've seen so far," Moore said. "Our creditors don't believe they adequately compensate for the performance of the property."

Officials in charge of Greektown's estate have been shopping the property around to potential bidders in a two-pronged approach to getting the casino out of Chapter 11 protection.

For the complete story, please see Nathan Hurst, Greektown Casino rejects low-ball bids, The Detroit News, May 7, 2009.

Greektown Continues to Struggle

From the outset, Greektown Casino has been days late and millions of dollars short.

The ching-ching-ching of slot machines rang out first at MGM Grand Detroit's temporary casino in July 1999. Five months later, MotorCity Casino got into the gaming groove.

But it wasn't until November 2000 that Greektown Casino took its first bets.

In October 2007, MGM Grand unveiled its $700-million permanent casino and hotel. Five months later, MotorCity opened its permanent facility.

But Greektown didn't open its 400-room hotel until February, the last piece of its permanent building.

This weekend, all three downtown casinos are full of Final Four revelers, with Greektown located closest to the Ford Field games.

"We're very optimistic," Randy Fine, a Greektown turnaround consultant, said Friday as crowds milled through downtown.

But one slam-dunk event won't erase the $777 million that Greektown owes creditors and lenders.

The owners of Greektown Casino, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, filed for bankruptcy protection about a year ago.

For the complete story, please see Mary Francis Masson, Greektown always lagged behind, Detroit Free Press, April 5, 2009.