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------------ tv CU1UI' —$12 MillionBy HAROLD HYMAN SUN Sull Writer Summa Corp. has been offered $12 million cash for its faltering Landmark Hotel; but as of 9 p.m. Tuesday it had not accepted the deal, the SUN has learned.The cash offer was made Tuesday morning after three weeks of nego-tations. It came from a group of Chicago financiers — including a worldwide art dealer based in Las Vegas — and was transmitted to Summa in a lengthv telegram sent by Chicago attorney Myron Minuskin.Summa s board of directors is scheduled to meet in Las Vegas Wednesday The Chicago group s offer is on die agenda, but the board is said to favor instead a lesser offer of $10 million with no down payment and a 20-year payout period offered by Las Vegas gaming figures Frank Scott. J Kell Houssels Jr and John “Jackie Gaughan.A third offer of $13 million made last week by an Akron. Ohio, tavern owner is said to have been rejected on the basis that the tavern owner couid not raise the money.The Chicago group is said to consist of five prominent northern Illinois phy-Where I StandR\ BRIAN GREENSPUNI can barely believe my eyes!As a lawyer turned newspaperman ! have had many experiences which have jaded my thinking and esteem for the acts of my fellowman(woman'The one event which I never thought 1 would witness would be a letter of apology from a lawyer.There are some lawyers who wnteletters for clients which can scare asicians and attorneys plus the Las Vegas art dealer.Together they comprise a corporation that holds several franchises in retail fast food operations in the Midwest and owns a stnng of hospitals and medical clinics in Illinois and WisconsinThe Chicago group is said to be ready to sign an agreement with its cash offer, a third of it raised among the participants and the remainder pledged by a Chicago banking institution.The Chicago group, according to a spokesman who declined to be identified publicly, views with disfa* or any long-term mortgage arrangement with Summa. unlixe the Scott-Gaughan-Houssels group.The final paragraph of the telegram sent Tuesday to Summa by Minuskin states;My clients are ready, willing and able to proceed and therefore I do on their behalf hereby firmly and irrevocably offer Summa Corp the sum of $12 million cash for the Landmark Hotel and its assets. Kindly advise.The Chicago group's spokesman said that throughout the negotiations, Summa officials have denied the prospective buyers an opoortunitv to examine a 1973 property appraisal of the Landmark, which sets its value at $25 million.The late Howard Hughes, who founded Summa, purchased the Landmark In 1969 for $17 3 milbon after the never-opened hotel went into bankruptcy.Since then it has been a consistent money loser, so much so that the Chicago roup's spokesman Tuesday quoted Summa gaming chief Phil Hannifin as saying that if the Landmark is not sold in another month he will close it down entirely.The statement attributed to Hannifin. however, could not be confirmed Tuesday. Phone queries to Summa of-ficals, including Hannifin, were not answered.When negotiations with the Oiicago (Please See CHICAGO. Page 41
Newspaper Details
Las Vegas Sun
Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Wed, Oct 19, 1977
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
A J.
NV, USA 12 Oct 2017
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