Flamingo Inn Motel future in flux

Just a week after the future fate of the old Flamingo Inn Motel seemed certain to be demolition, a string of events has left that at least somewhat in doubt.

To review, the Historic Preservation Commission had the property on its agenda for a meeting that took place last week but it was also learned that the current owner, Hamid Sheikhai, under a project name of Boulder Burgers, had applied for a permit to demolish the building, which operated as a motel for about 50 years before it fell into disrepair and was abandoned around 2012.

That commission meeting came and went on Wednesday of last week with no official mention of the property. It turns out that the commission has no jurisdiction of that location.

While the old motel lies in a quasi-historic district called the Motel Sign District, it is not part of the official historic district and, as a reminder from city staff noted, Boulder City has just one actual historic district. A small group of residents has begun to press the city to make the area, which includes about a half-dozen motels that date back to the middle of the 20th century an actual historic district. But that is a process that —even if the city were to get behind it —typically takes years to make happen.

Interested buyer?

However, there was unofficial reference to the Flamingo when Branden Smith stepped to the podium during public comment.

“Rumor has it that the Flamingo is being terminated or torn down, whatever you want to call it and, while I would agree that in its present condition it is a bit of an eyesore, I think the motels along that corridor have tried very hard to restore their original character. I think the Flamingo could be just as saved as any of those other ones that have been restored in the last few years,” Smith began.

“But my concern for Boulder City is a little more vast. I’m just starting my fifth year here in the city and I know I’m a newbie comparatively speaking to some of the generations of humans who have lived in Boulder City for decades, but I have quite a fondness and real love for the historic nature of the city as reflected in the homes that I hold here. I want to say that, honestly, just in the four years in total that I’ve been coming and going, I’ve seen a lot of what drew me to Boulder City disappear — most significantly the site at the Bureau of Reclamation building that was a complete assassination of our downtown area.”

Readers may be familiar with Smith as the lead voice in a local effort to have the BoR property “xeriscape” redone to better reflect the drawings that were presented to the city before work began.

In a phone interview with the Review, Smith reported that he had tried to buy the Flamingo property when it was being sold by Daren and Donna Saunders last year. As a potential buyer, Smith has some information that is not generally available to the public.

According to Smith, the Saunders bought the property in 2022 for about $660,000. In an interview in 2023, they told the Review that their plan was to convert the motel into a group of mini boutiques for artists and craftspeople. Donna Saunders described it as “Art in the Park, but all year long.”

Recent history

The Saunders applied for and received a potential rebate from redevelopment agency funds for some work they planned to do to refurbish the building facade.

The work never began and last year, for sale signs showed up on the Flamingo Inn as well as multiple other Saunders-owned properties in the downtown area, including the Little City Grille and the Boulder Dam Brewing Company.

Donna Saunders reported at that time that health challenges faced by the parents of both her and her husband (whose family lives in his native United Kingdom), they decided to sell off all of their properties in order to focus on supporting their parents.

For a short time it appeared that a husband and wife team that owns a Las Vegas-based construction business was going to buy the Flamingo and rehab it in order to keep it as a hotel. But the sale fell through once the couple learned of the extent of the needed repairs to save the building.

A sale was ultimately finalized to Sheikhai last year for a reported $750,000. Sheikhai, who could not be reached for comment, owns multiple businesses in Las Vegas, including a car repair business called Busy Boots (Sheikhai is an ASE Certified master automobile technician) and a North Las Vegas burger joint called Beep Beep Burgers that is currently closed, reportedly for renovations.

Smith reported that he has spoken with Sheikhai about possibly selling the property after they were connected by city staff.

“The Flamingo Inn is along a vital artery of Boulder City, so redevelopment of this long-vacant property is important to the success of the downtown area and would benefit the residents of Boulder City,” said Michael Mays, acting deputy city manager/community development director. “The current owner indicated being open to offers, so as a courtesy, we have shared contact information of prospective buyers with the owner.”

While things are in the early stages of discussion and there is no solid indication that Sheikhai will sell, the demolition permit is still not approved and Smith is pursuing additional talks with the current owner. He would like to do what he called a “shrinky-dink version of Ferguson’s.” That is a reference to an old hotel of similar provenance to the Flamingo in the East Fremont area of downtown Las Vegas. It was part of the Downtown Project founded and championed by the late Tony Hsieh, the one-time CEO of Zappos who died in 2020 after spending millions on multiple properties in that area.

In the commission meeting last week, Smith said, “We’ve lost Milo’s. We’re going to lose the Flamingo, the Little City Grille. The list is starting to go on and on now and these were all things that really compelled me and emotionally moved me to be interested in Boulder City as the historic town that it is. I think we really need to step up as citizens, committees and councils and really do all that we can do to to reel in this assassination of the historic nature of our town. Otherwise we’re just going to turn into Henderson and that’s the whole reason we’re here is because we’re not Henderson and we’re not Las Vegas. We need to keep it the way it is, for better or for worse. It’s what we all love. It’s what we all know. And it’s what everybody appreciates and cherishes most about Boulder City.”