The Gold Spike in downtown Las Vegas is under new ownership, in a deal that shows a sharp drop in sales value of the former casino site.
Las Vegas husband-and-wife real estate investors Huan “Jeff” Mai and Qing Zhong bought the hotel and nightlife property at Las Vegas Boulevard and Ogden Avenue for $11.38 million, according to Clark County property records and Nevada business-entity filings.
The sale, by the estate of the late Zappos chief Tony Hsieh, closed June 10.
The buyers own shopping centers in Southern Nevada and recently purchased the Macy’s-occupied building on Spring Mountain Road in Chinatown. Their acquisition of the Gold Spike includes the connected Oasis hotel site and a parking lot operated by the city of Las Vegas, property records show.
Mai declined to comment on the purchase.
Clark County property records show that Hsieh, who died in 2020, acquired the spread for nearly $27 million in 2013.
Attorneys for Hsieh’s father, who has been managing his son’s estate through a probate case in Clark County District Court and signed off on the Gold Spike sale, did not respond to a request for comment.
Mushrooms and Legos
Built in the 1970s, the Gold Spike is a squat building near the canopy-covered, tourist-packed Fremont Street Experience. It boasts live music, special events, and plenty of games.
All told, the compact property has a hodgepodge feel that hearkens back to Hsieh’s Downtown Project days of pumping money, good times, and all-over-the-place ideas into the Fremont Street area.
The main indoor space at the Gold Spike is essentially an arcade with a bar and lounge, featuring pool tables, foosball, Skee-Ball, Beavis-and-Butt-head-themed cornhole boards, and other games.
The outdoor space, called the Backyard, has a random assortment of stuff.
It features turf-covered furniture that look like closely cropped hedges; a massive, decorative golden snake; a school bus painted with a psychedelic vision, including mushrooms; more cornhole boards; a giant chess set; a crate filled with giant Lego bricks; a giant beer-pong setup; multicolored hopscotch grids; and, in true Tony Hsieh fashion, an Airstream trailer.
Renovations
The Siegel Group, a Las Vegas real estate firm known for its chain of low-priced Siegel Suites apartment buildings, acquired the Gold Spike in 2008.
At the time, the Las Vegas Review-Journal described the Gold Spike as a smoke-choked place known for selling tequila shots and cans of beer for $1 apiece.
Michael Crandall, chief business officer with The Siegel Group, said this week that the company completely re-did the casino floor; added a new bar, restaurant and other features; renovated the hotel rooms and hallways; and spruced up the exterior of the property.
In 2013, it sold the Gold Spike to Hsieh.
Crandall confirmed that the casino closed after Hsieh bought the place and that Hsieh transformed the property into what’s seen today.
Flame-shooting praying mantis
Hsieh, the former CEO of online shoe seller Zappos and face of downtown Las Vegas’ economic revival, died on Nov. 27, 2020, at age 46 from injuries suffered in a Connecticut house fire.
He was unmarried and left behind a vast portfolio of office buildings, apartment complexes, retail properties, and other sites downtown. He assembled the holdings through a $350 million side venture launched in 2012 as the Downtown Project, becoming a one-man redevelopment engine for a long-neglected part of the city.
Overall, he bankrolled bars, eateries, and tech startups and became one of downtown’s biggest property owners through the venture, now called DTP Companies.
He also lived downtown in an Airstream trailer with a pet alpaca, sported a mohawk, and had a fondness for Northern Nevada’s Burning Man festival.
Plus, his former side venture developed the Downtown Container Park on Fremont Street, where visitors are greeted by a flame-shooting praying mantis out front.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.
