Bodine's will close in mid-January

Bodine's restaurant will close on Jan. 15 to make way for a new owner with a new business plan for a prized area of South Carson Street: a $10 million Western-themed casino.

Joe Masini, co-owner of Bodine's, said Monday the sale of the 3.1-acre parcel on the corner of South Carson Street and Old Clear Creek Road will close on Dec. 13 to K&S Properties. Masini declined to give the purchase price.

After 20 years in business, the restaurant and adjoining trailer park will be demolished. Residents vacated the trailer park several months ago. The restaurant's 25 full-time and part-time workers were informed Sunday of the sale.

"The last day that we can do business is Jan. 15, and our core group of 11 employees said 'We're here to the end,'" Masini said. "We wanted to leave it up to them. We asked them what they wanted us to do. They all said that they'd like to stay until the 15th. I said 'Bravo.'"

Many of Bodine's bartenders and servers have been with the restaurant for five to 17 years.

"This is the finest staff, and there are some business owners in town that are going to be very lucky to pick up some of these people," Masini said.

Jim Alderson and Shel Lindsey are partners with Masini in the business. Jack Brower, of Sperry Van Ness/Gold Dust Commercial, who represented them in the sale, said the new venture will be a quality development for Carson City. He was also a broker for the Casino Fandango deal.

"It (Bodine's) was an interesting property to work on because it's located down in the path of progression," Brower said. "It's located right at the county line and it contains one of the last unrestricted gaming licenses available in Carson City."

A casino property with an unrestricted gaming license does not have to meet a Carson City requirement for gaming properties to have a 100-room hotel.

Bodine's unrestricted gaming license was one reason the property was desirable to K&S Properties, which is owned by Southern California developer Kevin Coleman. He also operates Net Development Co. of Costa Mesa, Calif.

Tom Johnson, broker of record for Sperry Van Ness/Gold Dust Commercial, who represented Coleman, said the one-story casino will have an underground parking garage and surrounding parking.

Coleman has enough parking spaces to meet city code, but he is looking to obtain overflow parking at the Carson City fairgrounds. Coleman said he is willing to invest up to $1 million with the city parks and recreation department to improve the fairgrounds and secure overflow parking near his casino.

At a parks and recreation meeting about two weeks ago, some fairgrounds users objected to the location of the overflow parking. They said the design resembled a plan conceived by a developer, not those who use the fairgrounds for recreation. The Parks and Recreation Commission held off on any deal with Coleman until a new design could be rendered, this time with the cooperation of equestrian groups and other fairgrounds users.

Johnson said the casino will likely break ground in the first quarter of 2006. After that it could take six to nine months to construct. The $10 million price tag for the project includes the cost of the land and purchase of the stock in Bodine's privately held corporation.

n Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.