Crystal Bay Club may have purchaser

W.C.W. Corp. posted an offer of $2.6 million Tuesday for the defunct Crystal Bay Club located on Lake Tahoe's north shore.

Although several individuals and companies have made queries of interest in the King's Beach-area casino since a prior sale fell through in August, this is the first serious offer in writing, according to U.S. Bankruptcy Court Trustee Jeri Coppa-Knudson.

David Scott Tate, owner of W.C.W. Corp., as well as Stillwater Gaming, LLC., runs the Silver Springs Nugget, a casino in east of Carson City as well as the Bonanza Inn and Casino, and the Nugget Casino in Fallon.

Tate is listed as the owner of 100 percent of the shares of W.C.W. Corp., having bought out business partner Phil Nemeth in December 2001, according to a Dec. 17, 1999 article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Tate cited the traffic count through the location, near the U.S. 95 - U.S. 50 intersection, as a primary reason for purchasing the Silver Springs casino.

W.C. W. Corp. placed a $100,000 earnest money deposit at First American Title Co. in Incline Village toward purchasing the Crystal Bay Club. After court approval of the sale, the deposit will become nonrefundable, according to a court document.

The legal notice for authorizing the sale of the bankrupt casino specifies that the purchaser must have a nonrestricted gaming license specific to the Crystal Bay Club location.

Tate was not available for comment by press time.

Auction date is set for Tuesday, Nov. 21 at 10 a.m. at the Federal Bankruptcy Court on Booth Street in Reno. If the court approves sale to a third party, W.C. W. Corp. will be entitled to a reimbursement fee of $25,000 to cover out-of-pocket expenses, as well as a Stalking Horse Fee of $5,000 for each $50,000 increase in the purchase price that exceeds $2.6 million.

The notice states that if W.C.W. Corp. is awarded the purchase at the auction and the price increases to more than $2.6 million, the company will have an additional 30 days to obtain finance at no additional cost.

The purchase also includes the lease of the communication equipment installed at the casino.

Other parties interested in bidding on the property are encouraged to call the trustee at (775) 329-1528; fax 329-5320; or her counsel Jeffrey Hartman at (775) 324-2800; fax 324-1818.

Incline Village businessman Tom Gonzales placed a $3 million bid in June to purchase the casino, but during the auction proceedings, July 23, he was outbid by The Bristol Group of New York, Ltd., which agreed to pay $4.35 million for the casino.

Coppa-Knudson gave the New York group an extended deadline, Aug. 9, to come up with the money, but the company wasn't able to make good on the deal.

A follow-up court date set for Sept. 4 was canceled because no one came forward with a bid, including those who had participated in the July court hearing.

Former lead shareholder in the casino, Joshua Ketcham, made a second attempt to reorganize to no avail.