By Howard Stutz
Lake Tahoe’s Cal Neva Lodge, a piece of Nevada’s gaming history for nearly a century, is going away in name only.
Colorado-based real estate investment firm McWhinney acquired the shuttered property that straddles the California-Nevada state line for an undisclosed price Friday and announced plans to “reimagine” the site in Crystal Bay on Tahoe’s north shore into a “modern leisure travel destination.”
According to a statement, the property, which has been closed for almost a decade, will be rebranded by California-based Proper Hospitality Group and the name Cal Neva will disappear.
In response to emailed questions, the McWhinney development team said, “While we will honor the history in the design, the property will become a Proper-branded resort.” The company said gaming would be included in future development plans.
McWhinney said the redevelopment of Cal Neva, which had roughly 200 hotel rooms when it closed, is in the “early, preliminary planning stages” and the company did not provide a budget. It said the goal is to reopen the resort in 2026, which would mark 100 years since the Cal Neva debuted.
In the past, tourists flocked to Cal Neva given its unique location between the two states. The California-Nevada dividing line was painted at the bottom of the resort’s pool, inside its spacious ballroom and along the casino floor with the gambling activities located on the Nevada side.
The property has seen numerous owners come and go, including entertainer Frank Sinatra in the 1960s — with a reported hidden ownership from Chicago mobster Sam Giancana. Sinatra allowed Giancana, who was an original member of Nevada’s List of Excluded Persons, to stay at the property, which led to Sinatra’s gaming license being suspended by state gaming regulators.
During its heyday, Cal Neva was a playground for Sinatra’s “Rat Pack” colleagues, Hollywood icons and the Kennedy family.
Las Vegas developer Kirk Kerkorian briefly owned the property before it began a long string of ownership changes.
According to the Gaming Control Board, Strategic Gaming Management, which last operated the Cal Neva, received approval to temporarily close the property in September 2013 for a remodeling project. The property remained on temporary closure status until 2018, when the owners surrendered their gaming license.
United Coin Machine, which is owned by Century Gaming, was approved by regulators in April 2019 to operate gaming on the property in a trailer one day every three months to keep the gaming rights intact.
McWhinney is buying the Cal Neva from billionaire Larry Ellison, one of the co-founders of cloud platform developer Oracle. Ellison acquired Cal Neva in 2018 for $38.5 million out of bankruptcy, but never followed through on plans to develop the resort into a luxury hotel-casino.
“Our vision is to reimagine and revitalize this iconic resort with deep historic roots into an exceptional experience for guests and the local community to enjoy for years to come,” McWhinney CEO Chad McWhinney said in a statement.
According to a statement, one of the investors in the Cal Neva project is Hayes Barnard, CEO of GoodLeap Corp., a financier of solar and sustainability projects. Barnard, who owns a home in Crystal Bay, has partnered with McWhinney on several developments, including the Proper Hotel in Austin, Texas.
“Our family has created lasting memories at Lake Tahoe for over 20 years and we are excited to play a meaningful role in restoring the Cal Neva Resort,” Barnard said.
Cal Neva will be the first Nevada project for Proper Hospitality, which manages Proper-branded hotels in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin. The company also manages a half-dozen non-Proper-branded hotels in Southern California.
“We strive to create an experience that is anchored to its location and creates long-term lasting value that supports the local community,” Proper CEO Brad Korzen said in a statement.
