Las Vegas Weekly

September 9, 2008 · 6 AM

Major NYC and LA nightlife kings rumored to be teaming up for Pure

By Robin Leach

Rumors are running rampant with "wicked whispers" in nightclub circles in both New York and Los Angeles that two powerhouse groups have teamed up as the apparent buyers of the mega-Strip club Pure empire for $100 million. It follows our exclusive Luxe Life story last week about the Sept. 30 “for sale” deadline. Now I can reveal from highly reliable sources that allegedly L.A. mega-club and hotel operator Sam Nazarian has put his ambitious plans on hold to transform his famed Sahara strip hotel here and is rumored to be teaming with Manhattan night czars Eugene Remm and Mark Birnbaum. Both sets of kings on opposite coasts run highly successful celebrity-studded nightclubs. Pure apparently has another Southern California club operator “waiting in the wings” with an approximately $70 million cash purchase offer.

One of Nazarian's headline-making Hollywood clubs is the 90-person Hyde, which is always on the front celebrity lines with its A-list sightings of everybody from Britney Spears to Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. Remm and Birnbaum own Manhattan’s hottest nightspot, TenJune, which is located underneath their STK Restaurant hotspot.

Originally, the 32-year-old Nazarian, born of parents who immigrated to America from Iran after the revolution there, dropped out of university to get into the California cellular phone business. He then went on to become a movie producer with several hit films including Down in the Valley and Pride & Mr., Brooks. Now in addition to Hyde, he also is the sole owner of Area and Privilege -- formerly known as Shelter. One of HBO’s Entourage series was filmed there showing him greeting the cast in the “No Cannes Do” episode. He has also acquired Bolthouse Productions, owned by powerhouse promoter Brent Bolthouse, who is said to be masterminding the new nightlife venues eventually destined here for the Sahara. Nazarian also owns the SBE Restaurant Group in Southern California, which includes two super-star Katsuya sushi hangout restaurants -- a third will eventually be added at the Sahara - plus Abbey, voted "best bar in Los Angeles." His SBE Hotel group now owns Le Meridian in Beverly Hills, the new-look Ritz Plaza in Miami’s South Beach -- and he partnered with Gordon Gaming to acquire the Sahara Hotel & Casino Resort between the Riviera and the Stratosphere here. He’s a partner also in the Viceroy resort hotels and several other hotel properties, including the Sheraton at Los Angeles International Airport.

The trendy TenJune nightspot in New York features three completely different settings in one, including a rather heavyweight VIP semi-private room that adjoins the dance floor. Everybody from P Diddy to Janet Jackson has been seen there and it's almost a nightly occurrence for the celebs to be reported the next day in the Manhattan gossip columns for their shenanigans.

It will probably be denied, as have all my stories to date about the future of Pure that this new triumvirate will close their purchase agreement by Sept. 30. My impeccable sources tell me they’re convinced that they’ve agreed to the $100 million purchase price that Pure’s senior owners Robert Frey and Steve Davidovitch insisted on. The new group is said to have offered $50 million in cash and promised to find another $50 million in equity to complete the transaction. However, last time around when I reported the development over Labor Day weekend it was the first time I didn’t get the expected denial and instead got a vague "no further comments." Mortgage investments from a Beverly Hills hedge fund believed to run $70 million, which was used for the major LAX expansion construction at Luxor and partnerships from initial "angel" funding from such stars as Celine Dion and Shaquille O’Neil have to be repaid upon the new purchase.

My sources told me: “You can pretty much bank on it that partner Robert Frey will still maintain a position in the new company and that 'Stevie D' plans to open his own nightclubs in Mexico when the deal has closed. Nazarian really wants to come into Vegas in a big way as soon as possible. Rather than wait for the Sahara makeover, Pure provides him with a fast, easy opening with a big bang arrival.”

Meantime, still on the horizon is the ongoing IRS investigation of Pure with results and indictments stemming from the probe expected within the next two months. Luxe Life will continue to monitor the developing story.

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