Old Reno

Fitzgerald's Hotel Casino, Virginia Street

Fitzgerald's Hotel and Casino. May 1976 - December 2nd, 2008.

Updated October 2011

Meta and Lincoln "Fitz" Fitzgerald
The Story of Fitzgerald's Hotel and Casino

In the 1960s Lincoln Fitzgerald, owner and operator of the famous Nevada Club,
(please read our story on the Nevada Club,here)
and Nevada Lodge, started buying Reno property on West Commercial Row and Virginia Street.
Among the properties was The Silver Dollar Club at 255 North Virginia, next to the Primadonna Club. Fitzgerald operated the Silver Dollar Club from 1965 until it was destroyed for the Fitzgerald Hotel Casino in 1974.

Construction of Fitzgerald's great work began in December of 1974. At that time, the class of the industry was across the street, next to the old Nevada Club, Harrah's. Harrah's had completed construction of their hotel in 1973 and surpassed the Mapes, and all other properties in the area in terms of amenities and accouterments for the high-roller.

Fitzgerald's Hotel Casino was built to rival Harrah's Hotel Casino, and be first class in all regards. The Nevada Gaming Commission licensed the property for 35 table games, two Keno games, and 1,000 slot machines.

Fitzgerald's Casino-Hotel opened in May of 1976, one month ahead of the schedule set forth in late 1974. The property was owned by Lincoln and his wife Meta Fitzgerald, with her brother Carlton Konarske having .1% interest. The hotel-casino building costs were $16 million, and Lincoln Fitzgerald paid this in cash, in one payment.

Fitzgerald was widely known for running casinos of the highest standards for decades, and Fitzgerald's Hotel Casino would be emblematic of that approach. Employees and facilities were all just so, and included gaming facilities on two floors, Molly's Garden coffee shop/diner, one first class restaurant and bar in Limericks, a fine buffet and entertainment center on the third floor, entertainment stage on the first floor, and a 16 story 347 room hotel.

The slot machines began as mechanical Jennings-based machines. The Irish theme of the facility is seen in its bright green colors evident everywhere, and several niches of Irish themed artifacts such as Blarney Stones, being well exhibeted.

After Lincoln Fitzgerald died in 1981, Fitzgerald's was operated by Meta Fitzgerald and Carlton Konarske until 1983. Management was contracted out to a holding company headed by Philip Griffith named The Lincoln Management Corporation by April of 1985. Though Meta Fitzgerald was part of the Management Group, the group not only had a contract to manage the Hotel Casino, but an option to purchase Fitzgerald's Hotel Casino as well from Meta.

Thus Lincoln Management Corporation completed the purchase Fitzgerald's Hotel Casino from Meta Fitzgerald and Carlton Konarske in December of 1986. The purchase price of record was $26.25 million, and the property was appraised at $25.96 million. The whole transaction took place with a down payment of $750,000.

Fitzgerald Gaming Corp. was formed in 1984 by Philip Griffith from the Lincoln Management Corporation. The company bought The Nevada Club from Meta Fitzgerald in 1983, and offered it for sale by 1990. They had acquired and sold Harolds Club by 1994.

Girffith's "Fitzgerald's Gaming Corp." had acquired and branded Fitzgerald's properties in Las Vegas, Blackhawk Colo, and Tunica Mississippi.

In the span of 14 years, Griffith acquired and closed three of the most historic casino operations (Harolds Club, Nevada Lodge and Nevada Club) in the world. Rather than building on a profitable core, Griffith and Fitzgerald's Gaming filed for bankruptcy on December 5th, 2000. The Las Vegas, Blackhawk and Tunica properties were sold to Don Barden of Barden Development.
Harolds Club, and the Nevada Club were razed and made into a "plaza" owned by Harrah's Corp., and used for outdoor concerts and other casino activities. Fitzgerald's Hotel and Casino in Reno remained profitable despite all else.

Fitzgerald's Reno continued to operate under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in trust of creditors through July 2007. It was the only profitable property remaining in the Griffith's holdings.

Phil Griffith came to Reno as an employee of Howard Hugh's Summa Corp. He was named the Controller of Harolds Club in 1973. By 1979 he was President of Harolds Club, and split his time between Reno and Las Vegas where he helped operate the Sands Hotel Casino.

In 2006, Fitzgerald's parent company formerly reported quarterly earnings, and being the only leftover from the Fitzgerald's bankruptcy, the Reno property reports monthly operations to the court. July's profit was $56,000 for the downtown casino on total receipts of $2.8 million, according to the monthly report. The casino reports $15.3 million in total assets and $5 million in total liabilities.

In April of 2007, it was announced that the Chicago-based development company that had recently purchased the Golden Phoenix Hotel Casino, had completed negotiations to purchase Fitztgerald's Reno Hotel Casino. The purchasing company was L-3 Development (DRW Nevada is the buyer of record), who announced plans to renovate the Hotel Casino and place it into the "boutique casino" operational category. The casino operation itself would be contracted out as the new owners have no gaming license.

Fernando Leal, the managing partner of L-Three said
"We have plans to look to improve every aspect of the property in its entirety. The exact specifics, it's too early to tell."
The sale was expected to be completed by October 31st 2007.

From 2007 until it's closing in December of 2008,Fitzgeralds Casino & Hotel at 255 North Virginia Street, Reno, NV 89504, telephone (800) 535-LUCK, with a website at www.fitzgeraldsreno.com operated as a 26,260 square foot casino featuring 830 slots and twenty-one table games.
The property has three restaurants and a hotel with 341 rooms consisting of 28 Mini-Suites and 315 Standard Rooms and 8 Suites, and other facilities as listed:

Gaming Machines

Dime Slots, 7 machines
Dollar Slots, 105 machines
Five Dollar Slots, 17 machines
Half Dollar Slots, 7 machines
Multi-denomination Slots, 22 machines
Nickel Slots, 245 machines
Other Slots, 1 machines
Penny Slots, 212 machines
Quarter Slots, 247 machines
Twenty Five Dollar Slots, 1 machines

Table Games

3 Card Poker, 3 tables
Blackjack, 14 tables
Craps, 1 table
Roulette, 1 table

The Hotel Casino's Restaurants and Bars

Molly's Garden entrance Limerick's

Limericks Pub & Grille - Steak, serves Dinner
Lord Fitzgeralds Feast & Merriment - Buffet serves Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Mollys Garden - Coffee House serves Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

Contemporary Comments from Customers and Employees of Fitzgerald's

Fitzgerald's remains a fine club, but is rather small by today's standards with only 350 or so hotel rooms available, and no expansion in over 20 years. Fitzgerald's remains one of the best clubs in Nevada despite the evildoings of Phil Griffith and the growth of more flashy properties such as The Eldorado and Silver Legacy.

Fitzgerald's has gambling on two floors, and the second floor is almost entirely gambling, except for the coffee shop "Molly's Garden". There is a pit upstairs that remains closed during most mid-week hours and is opened for the increased traffic on weekends during the non-snow months.

For the past few years, there has only been one craps table, and about 10 card games available. The Blackjack is a good game, and the craps table even though offering only 2x odds, is certainly playable. All dealers are very professional, and most very courteous.

Limits are as low as $2 and the casino has a large following of players that seldom seek other properties. Comps are good, and provide access to cash, gifts, food, and rooms.

There are high-limit slots and quite a few 1$ slots available, all of which seem to have fair payout schedules.

All restaurants at Fitzgerald's are top notch. Molly's garden is a classic coffee shop, with a gem of a menu, and very decent prices. Try everything, you'll like it. The buffet is inexpensive, and offers a great variety. It's difficult to beat the deal for good food you can get at the Fitzgerald's buffet.

On the third floor of Fitzgerald's is Limerick's, which is a nice pub and prime-rib house. Prices are very much in line, and the quality can't be beat. It's a true hidden pleasure every time we eat there.

I like Fitzgerald's because it has food and rooms that are comfortable and achievable with the player's club in place there. It's no use getting comps in a club where you don't want to be.

Fitzgeralds Casino-Hotel officially closed for good on Tuesday December 2nd, 2008. The last day for the customers was Sunday, November 30th.
On Monday, some tourists and former employees wandered in before noticing the obvious. On Tuesday the 2nd, workers from IGT, Bally and WMS were removing and hauling away slot machines.

Image from Reno Gazette Journal
The Reno Gazette Journal gave an accounting of the closing in an article by Ray Hagar.
"Mr. Fitzgerald is probably turning over in his grave," former Fitz employee Marilyn Goudy said as she came downtown to pay her final respects. Goudy was referring to Lincoln Fitzgerald, a Reno club owner who in 1976 built the hotel-casino that still carries his name.
Some Fitz workers remained on the job Monday, completing financial transactions. The human resources director, Trisha Daly, was also at work, trying to find jobs for many of the Fitz's 475 former employees.
"A lot of people have already found jobs but not in our department," said Arlette Wright, as she helped close the gaming property's financial books. Wright was overcome with emotion as she recalled when the property's owner, Fernando Leal, announced Fitzgeralds' closure in October.
Leal said then that the Fitz would be renovated into a boutique nongaming hotel and should reopen in two to three years to better blend with downtown Reno's changing structure. "I remember when they first told us that it was going to be closed, and everybody cried," said Wright, a 20-year employee. "This is like a big family." Leal and partner Don Wilson had acquired the Fitz on Nov. 1, 2007, with Rob Cashell as a principal partner.

Image from Reno Gazette Journal

The sale price was not disclosed, although it probably was not more than $25 million, said Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno. Cashell said Monday that the final day of the Fitz was part of a painful transition that will see downtown Reno evolve into a better place.
He spoke of the construction of Reno's new Triple-A ballpark a block away. Just outside the Fitz's doors, workers were laying a thick steel plate across the ReTRAC train trench that will open to two blocks of downtown Reno for development plans that include shops, restaurants and bakeries. "Reno's future is bright but it is difficult when you go through something like this," said Cashell, the son of Reno Mayor Bob Cashell. Fitzgeralds' management team members said they did as much as possible to get employees new jobs.

Image from Reno Gazette Journal
The Fitz started by holding a job fair in October. Employees also took advantage of a downtown job fair held later, officials said. "We held a job fair almost immediately after we issued the notice of closure," Daly said. "We invited several of the casino properties to participate and they did. "We did everything but drag employees into the conference room where we held the job fair and said, 'Here are the jobs. Apply and get hired,' " Daly said.
Cashell was proud of the effort that Daly and others had in helping employees find jobs. "I would say that at least a quarter of our employees have found work," Cashell said. "We tried to put at lot of effort in getting those people landed." The downturn in Reno's gaming economy, exacerbated by California tribal gaming, was the primary reason given for Fitzgerald's leaving the gaming business, owners said when announcing the Fitz's closure in October.

Image from Reno Gazette Journal
Since then, Washoe County's gaming slide has continued. The county's gaming win for September, which was announced recently by the state Gaming Control Board, dropped 20 percent with compared to the same month in 2007.
With the Fitz's closure, 630 slot machines and almost 30 table games are gone from the downtown market. That should help the remaining downtown casinos, Cashell said. "Obviously that was not our motivation, but it does help the downtown market because there is less gaming product and less people fighting over the same piece of the pie," Cashell said.

First floor pit, looking toward Commercial Street, image from Reno Gazette Journal
Cashell remains bullish on Leal's plan to reopen the Fitz as a nongaming property, perhaps as part of a national hotel chain. "The vision Fernando holds for the Fitz property transcends the gaming model," Cashell said. "He sees something that can be different in downtown Reno." Cashell scoffed at the idea that a nongaming hotel can't be successful in downtown Reno. "People do it in St. Louis, they do it in El Paso and Dallas and San Francisco and Sacramento and even Moscow, Idaho," Cashell said. "People run hotels all over the world without a gaming component." "Reno is growing and becoming more sophisticated," Cashell said. "People are coming to Reno for reasons beyond simply wanting to gamble."

Fitzgerald's Buffet, image from Reno Gazette Journal
On October 1st, 2011 Fitzgerald's had been officially turned into Leal's vision of success, with the outside of the building turned into a climbing wall, and the interior providing a dog park, and a restaurant. The development is called "Comm Row".

2nd Floor Keno Lounge, image from Reno Gazette Journal
It is expected that Comm Row will be equally as successful as Leal's other development in downtown Reno, which was to shutter the Golden Phoenix properties and turn them into a condominium project, which has turned out to be an abject failure in all regards.
Only time will tell the magnitude of the current debacle, and how long it will take for the Fitzgerald's property to return to the fold of offering the unique and sensational activities and amenities it was meant for.

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Much of the information here is from "The Rise of the Biggest Little City: An Encyclopedic History of Reno Gaming 1931 - 1981" by Dwayne Kling. ISBN 087417340X, published by University of Nevada Press, 2000.