In 2011, he liquidated to private-equity firms Texas Pacific Group and Leonard Green & Partners. When the condo bubble burst in Vegas and the Great Recession struck, Maloof found himself overextended and vulnerable. Then came the condominium boom of the mid-decade and Maloof embarked on an ambitious condo-hotel, Palms Place. (There was even a short-lived Playboy Club.) So popular was it that a second tower was opened in 2005 and the Pearl Concert Theater two years later. It was a formula that succeeded spectacularly, even though the Palms was a healthy jaunt off the Las Vegas Strip. Owner and creator George Maloof developed the innovative and canny stratagem of marketing to locals weekdays (especially with good slot and video poker values) and to party-hearty California tourists on weekends.

15, 2001, was a shot in the arm for a Las Vegas that was reeling from the effects on tourism of the Sept. In its 21 years, Palms Casino Resort has seen its share of ups and downs.

Palms Casino prepares to reopen under new ownership and the direction of Cynthia Kiser Murphey.

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