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Inspire nightclub abruptly closes on Fremont East, downtown drama abounds

Posted on by angelo
Inspire nightclub abruptly closes on Fremont East, downtown drama abounds

By Scott Roeben, June 15, 2024

Inhale has expired.

The location, on the corner of Las Vegas Blvd. and Fremont Street in the Fremont East Entertainment District, was operated by DTP (Downtown Project) Companies and closed without notice or fanfare.

The plug has been pulled on the Inspire website. Feel free to follow the link if you have a 404 fetish.

Inspire nightclub abruptly closes on Fremont East, downtown drama abounds
We would miss Inspire more if we understood what it was.

The closure follows the acquisition of the property by Boston Omaha Asset Management and its co-manager, Brendan Keating.

Boston Omaha also has the former John E. Carson Building, now called Tony@Carson. Tony@Carson is the home of the popular Carson Kitchen. Parts of the building are for rent.

The murals caused a commotion, we will come back to that.

Boston Omaha also owns the space where Nacho Daddy used to sit. Nacho Daddy has since moved next door and a tiki bar will soon open in the former Nacho Daddy space.

It looks like two buildings, but everything is connected inside. The tiki bar, Glitter Gulch, will occupy the entire space.

You’re right. We have a lot of things about Las Vegas on our minds. Every time we learn something new, there is a reasonable chance that it will bring up something else, like the fact that the mirror blackjack dealers use to see their hole card is called a “peeping tom” or ” voyeur”; or how the golden nugget of the Golden Nugget is a replica; or who pays out million-dollar jackpots at the Wheel of Fortune (it’s IGT, the manufacturer); or how much Fontainebleau loses every day ($400,000); or the story of how we once saw Circa owner Derek Stevens give someone 2-1 odds on a coin toss; or how Wynn Las Vegas uses trained hawks to ward off pigeons; or which downtown bars don’t carry Captain Morgan (Atomic and Carson Kitchen, for starters); or which strip magician would dip his penis in hydrogen peroxide before and after sex. You know, important things.

Inspire was one of several businesses in the buildings Boston Omaha acquired from the Tony Hsieh estate in October 2023. The others are Flippin’ Good Chicken, Griffin, Corduroy, Downtown Cocktail Room and the shuttered Smashed Pig.

The aforementioned Brendan Keating is also the president and co-founder of a brokerage firm, Logic Commercial Real Estate.

Logic was hired by Tony Hsieh’s estate to sell 15 of Hsieh’s real estate assets. (Hsieh owned nearly 100 properties downtown, some claiming the shape of a llama. Long story.)

So far, Boston Omaha has been the only buyer of Hsieh’s properties.

There was reportedly an offer on the John E. Carson Building for $200,000 more than the price Boston Omaha paid ($14.6 million), but Boston Omaha still landed the sale.

Yes, the person hired to purchase these properties is the same person who ended up acquiring them. It’s all a bit weird, but we were assured there was nothing to see here.

Unrelated, but another recent (September 2023) real estate transaction involving Fremont East involved buildings housing Le Thai, Commonwealth, We All Scream and Cheap Shot. Plaza owners Tamares Group sold the properties to the Siegel Group. Siegel allegedly paid $11 million for the real estate, or rather overpaid, according to our sources. The second best offer was in the range of $10 million. Siegel can afford it because their Pinkbox Donut shop prints money on Plaza. Fortunately, this is a long-term investment for Siegel and no changes to the tenant roster are planned.

Boston Omaha has clashed with locals over some murals in the Tony@Carson building (a mural of chef Kerry Simon was accidentally repainted, but it’s being redone by the original artist), but our overall impression is that they are invested in contributing to the East Fremont community.

There was a little panic when downtown residents saw that a mural had been painted on the Carson building, but it was just being prepared for a refresh.

Renovating the mural cost about $70,000, so Boston Omaha is putting its money where its mouth is.

The entire building has been renovated by the new owner.

We’d wager that Inspire never actually made any money, but was subsidized by Tony Hsieh’s Downtown Project, as were many area businesses during Hsieh’s lifetime.

The three-story Inspire nightclub was always a bit strange. It featured nightclub elements, but also served as a lounge on several occasions and also had a 150-seat theater for panel discussions. According to Downtown Project, the space was “an ideal setting for meetings, conferences, workshops or entertaining a small to medium group.”

Inspire caught the attention of USA Today in 2020. The publication described Inspire this way: “Located on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Fremont Street, Inspire is part of the booming (and very trendy) Fremont East neighborhood . Housed in a building that was once a convenience store, Inspire now offers three levels, including a rooftop bar and club. The first level features a 150-seat theater, the second floor offers a lounge with an outdoor balcony, and the third level is the rooftop, where you can enjoy drinks while admiring great views. Friday and Saturday, the roof transforms into a discotheque with DJ. Bottle and table service is available (you can book online) and you’ll find a total of four bars spread across the three clubs.

Without Tony Hsieh’s vision (and deep pockets), the fabric of his legacy is crumbling downtown.

The once tight-knit community enlisted and inspired by Tony Hsieh doesn’t seem to know what to do with itself at the moment. Hsieh’s family seems primarily interested in selling their real estate holdings and cashing out, despite much talk of continuing what Tony Hsieh started. There was, however, a symbolic gesture linked to Inspire. Hsieh’s family insisted when the Inspire deal was reached that a Tony Hsieh mural not be touched by Boston Omaha for 10 years.

A longtime friend told us that Tony Hsieh would have hated this mural.

A quick note: we first learned of the closure of Inspire from @VegasStarfish on Twitter.

Boston Omaha says they will tell us first when they have a new tenant for the Inspire space. Maybe something calm and discreet. Just kidding, it’s Fremont.