HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT An artist's conception of the movie theater entrances at the Pahrump Nugget, and the area where the eight-plex will be constructed. Advertisement

A ground breaking will be held after Labor day on a $10 million eight-plex movie theater, children's arcade and additional gaming area, expected to be completed by Memorial Day 2009 at the Pahrump Nugget Hotel-Casino, Golden Gaming Inc. announced Wednesday.

The theaters will have a total of 1,300 seats, featuring state-of-the-art sound and digital projection. A new drop-off lane will be constructed at the entrance of the theaters, along with additional parking, at the rear of the property.

"We were delighted to call Pahrump our home when we moved out here in November of 2006," said Steve Arcana, chief operating officer for Golden Gaming.

"It's been a great ride for the last year and a half. One of the first things (General Manager) Jeremy (Jensen) told me, after he got to touring the property, touring the community, was, 'boss, we need movie theaters.' And guess what? We're giving you movies," said Arcana, to applause from about 60 people at a media conference.

"This is obviously a monumental day," said Arcana. "I'll tell you that in addition to the capital that we put into the property in the last 16 months -- which includes our brand new steak house, poker room, new race and sport books facility, complete renovation of the property -- we are in the middle of a $1 million rooms renovation and now we will break ground on this $10 million facility right after Labor Day."

Golden Gaming will submit plans to pull the building permit in September, using a Las Vegas general contractor, he said. Plans prepared by YWS architects were on display around the room, along with a popcorn vendor, typical theater candy and movie posters of current hits posted on the wall like "Kung Fu Panda" and "Indiana Jones: The Kingdom of the Crystal."

Ironically, the announcement came the same week Marnell Sher Gaming announced plans to convert the Saddle West Hotel and Casino banquet room into a theater, while a four-plex movie theater is planned. That project is expected to be completed in November 2009.

"It is absolutely 100 percent a coincidence that we are here announcing this today. It's not in response to anything," Arcana said, adding that he and Golden Gaming Inc. Chief Executive Officer Blake Sartini know Anthony Marnell III, chairman of Marnell Sher Gaming, very well.

"We think they've done some great things for their property and quite frankly I look at it as any development in Pahrump is good and if we are competing that's good. The bottom line is we're all doing the best we can to take care of our loyal guests," he said.

Golden Gaming Inc. confirmed last week the company scrapped plans to acquire the Saddle West. Arcana said the cancellation of that acquisition wasn't related to freeing up capital for the Nugget expansion.

Golden Gaming has yet to select a company to operate the theaters, Arcana said they're in discussions with three operators.

Golden Gaming will install 188 new slot machines in an 8,686 square-foot addition adjacent to the bowling alley. The new casinos, including from 115 to 282 seats in each one, will be located where the employee parking is now.

Arcana said the theater can also be used for community meetings, or telecasts of special events like boxing matches or the Super Bowl on a huge screen.

"For the children, because I'm sure that's a very important issue to all of you as it is to myself, we have two nice components of this facility," said Arcana.

"The first is a brand new, state-of-the-art arcade with 50-plus games which will be monitored during the time it's open by security to make sure that our children are safe," Arcana said.

"Another thing that we believe is important and something that we did in the past, Blake and I have added it to our theater components in each location, is a drop-off point so that kids do not have to be pushed through the casino space," he said.

Plans will have to be submitted to Nye County, since the already approved expansion plans called for an addition on the other side of the building, Arcana said.

Pahrump Regional Planning Commission Chairman Mark Kimball said county planners met with Golden Gaming representatives last week over what he called minor plan reviews. Golden Gaming will come back into planning for another plan review, which could include some improvements to Crawford Way, he said.

Arcana said Golden Gaming Inc. has a significant master plan for the property, of which some plans are confidential. But he said, "We will continue to build quality amenities here on the property and convention space, additional rooms, spas, just to name a few, are examples of what may be coming down the road."

Arcana said he would want to see hotel occupancy of 90 to 100 percent before additional rooms are constructed. There are 70 existing rooms. Jensen said afterwards, Pahrump motel occupancy rates average in the low 70 percent range.

"Pahrump is no exception to some challenges that we are experiencing not only in the state of Nevada but across the country," said Arcana. "Capital investment now is extremely limited, not only in Pahrump but across the rest of the United States. We feel that this project is a very obvious successful one for us because there's 35,000 residents that don't have a facility that in the words of everybody I've talked to, drive to Las Vegas to go to the theater."

"I think this project is a no brainer. It made a tremendous amount of sense to us," he said. "We would hope a $10 million investment in Pahrump is a strong message to potential businesses that would come to this community."