Planet Hollywood

Prive close to receiving a temporary liquor license

New key employee applicant has ties to the Nevada Gaming Commission

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Jim Reding, announced as one of Prive’s new key employees, thinks the club will reopen with a “more regulated environment.”

In a statement issued today by the department of business license to county commissioners, director Jacqueline Holloway states that her department’s staff “has comprehensively reviewed the new application for a change of ownership and has determined that the application is complete and can proceed for processing.”

Appending to that memo a long list of conditions, Holloway further states that “when all the requirements are met and we have an understanding of the department's expectation for management and operations, the department may issue a 90 day temporary license set to expire November 20, 2009, pending the background investigation of the new parties on the license.”

Among the list of 11 conditions, the department of business license requires that state gaming, business license and Metro unobstructed access to the nightclub; that all serious incident reports be faxed to the department within 24 hours of an incident; that patrons be restricted from access to the kitchen area, security surveillance area and the stripper poles; and that former directors Greg Jarmolowich and Frank Tucker shall have “no involvement in the management or operations of Privé or the Living Room nightclubs.”

Prive nightclub

Adhering to these rules as they are set forth, Privé is poised to be granted a temporary liquor license while its application for a permanent license is considered. Counting backwards, the 90-day temporary license would seemingly have to go into effect on Sunday, August 23, to expire on November 20. The permanent license would have to be granted on or before November 20 for business to continue into the New Year.

In an apparent show of confidence, rumor has it that Privé has already put out feelers to secure talent and celebrities to perform and host when Privé’s doors reopen under the management of the three new key employees Privé has identified in its new application for a liquor license on August 13: Orlando Oquendo, Jim Reding and David Hicks.

If Reding’s name in particular sounds familiar, that is because he was interviewed twice by the Weekly, in 2007 and 2008, in connection to a hot new live music venue and bar he intended to open at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Fremont East. In partnership with fellow developer Wayne Jefferies and attorney JT Moran III of Vegas’ Moran Law Firm, and operating as Beehive Las Vegas, LLC, Reding was to turn the former 7-Eleven into The Hive.

But investor dollars ran dry and costs ran high. After sinking $300,000 of their own money into the property, Reding says, the building was returned to the landlord to find a sublease, and the LLC defaulted. The registered agent for Jefferies’ H.R. Hospitality Inc. (LLC also defaulted) is Privé’s attorney Jay H. Brown.

So, when it comes time for Reding, Oquendo and Hicks to come before the Nevada Gaming Commission as applicant key employees, will Moran’s father, Nevada Gaming Commissioner John T. Moran Jr., abstain from voting on his son’s former partner and colleague? In an interview held last week, Reding said he does not think so as there is no current financial connection between the two men. “Perhaps it would be different if we did get The Hive going,” said Reding. “It’s not like JT and I are actively running a business together.”

Reding himself has very little nightlife background, despite the fact that his Style Box consulting and development firm (LLC also defaulted) Web site says that nightlife is within his company’s purview. The Hive would have been the first specifically nightclub-related project for the retail specialist, at least according to his work history.

Reding knows he is walking into a tense situation but says he has done his homework on Opium Group and has closely followed the preceding events. “I think Privé is not necessary the example but just the first in what will be a closer governance of nightclubs,” he said, standing by his new employer. “The Opium Group is a strong nightclub group that knows what they’re doing.”

Giving his personal opinion on the outcome of the club’s appeals, Reding said, “I think things will go Privé’s way. They’ve made the necessary adjustments that should satisfy anybody making that decision.”

Since the Weekly spoke with Reding, that appeal has been withdrawn and Reding’s key employee-ship rolled into a brand new application for a permanent liquor license. Attempts to contact Opium Group for comment on Reding’s ties to the commission were not immediately returned.

Reding acknowledged that important work is being done here with this case. “It’s going to create a more regulated environment,” one that Reding appears excited to be taking on. And past talk of alleged corruption and illegal activities? “It certainly won’t happen on my watch.”

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