Owners of the Atlantis Casino Resort are looking to build a second hotel casino in Reno.
Monarch Casino & Resort Inc., Atlantis' owner, last week said it has entered into an option agreement to purchase property in south Reno and has submitted an application with the city of Reno to get 13 acres of the property rezoned.
Monarch is currently embroiled in a lawsuit with the city.
The company sued after the city council allowed well-known lobbyist Harvey Whittemore to take over the non-restricted gaming license of downtown's Old Reno Casino.
Whittmore told the council he would try to use the license to open a new casino in the downtown area.
But then it became known that Whittemore, through Nevada Casinos Inc., a company established to run the new casino, provided financing for bankrupt McCarran Properties LLC.
McCarran Properties owns Corporate Pointe, a vacant lot at the corner of South Virginia Street and McCarran Blvd., just a few blocks from the Atlantis.
According to the suit, that deal was forged to obtain the lot in order to build a new casino
