One of the icons of the Las Vegas Strip is in big trouble. The owner of Tropicana casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It's been a rough year for the Tropicana, in December the New Jersey Casino Control Commission said that the company wasn't capable of running the operation in accordance with state law and the Tropicana in Atlantic City lost its license. That decision led to a funding crisis which eventually led to the bankruptcy filing. The company has reported assets of $2.8 billion and liabilities of $3.3 billion. Tropicana Entertainment has said it will keep their properties running throughout the country and Scott C. Butera, the company's president, has urged people to continue to patronize Tropicana's properties which include The Tropicana Casino & Resort in Las Vegas; Bayou Caddy's Jubilee Casino in Greenville, Miss.; Casino Aztar in Evansville, Ind.; Horizon Casino Hotel in Vicksburg, Miss.; Horizon Casino Resort and the MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa, both in Lake Tahoe, Nev.; the Tropicana Express Hotel & Casino in Laughlin, Nev.; River Palms Resort & Casino in Laughlin, Nev.; and the Sheraton Hotel and Belle of Baton Rogue Casino in Baton Rouge, La.

The Tropicana in Atlantic City isn't part of the filing because it has to be sold by a state-appointed conservator which was mandated when the former owners lost their license in December. The company will get the money from that sale but it's not the best time to be selling real estate and so the price may be lower than would usually be expected. The company may also sell other properties as the restructuring process continues. The Las Vegas casino is the property with the most value, it occupies a nice chunk of prime Strip real estate. I'm sure developers will eagerly snap it up if the Tropicana is unable to save itself.

A couple months ago we mentioned that high-end gadget retailer Sharper Image had filed for bankruptcy, now the company is up for sale. The retailer has said they want to be sold by the end of May and are preparing for an auction of the business as soon as possible. A Reuters article features a quote from Robert Conway, Sharper Image's chief executive which says in part that the current retail climate and the limited financing options available have prompted the sale. A potential buyer may be found in Jerry Levin, the former chairman of Sharper Image's board who recently resigned and has stated publicly that he is interested in working investors to buy the company. Like RedEnvelope, which is also up for sale, the Sharper Image has continued to keep doing business which leads me to wonder how many people are aware that the businesses they are shopping with are inches from going under.

Popular catalog and online gift company RedEnvelope has fallen on hard times. On Friday the company reported that it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 17 with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, San Francisco. The company will also be sold. They have entered into an agreement with Creative Catalogs Corp. to purchase RedEnvelope's assets and assume some of the company's liabilities for $5.7 million. RedEnvelope has also gotten a $4.5 million debtor-in-possession credit facility and loan from Creative Catalogs and Granite Creek FlexCap so that the business does not have to shut down during the transition process (guess that explains why their catalog is still showing up in my mailbox). The final sale price will be will be less the outstanding amount from that loan.

The nine-year-old company was one of the few e-commerce sites with a successful catalog business but the recent tough economic climate and the bank's stricter lending policy for retailers found the company in trouble this year. The company catered mainly to the middle class and upper middle class brackets which are now cutting back on spending due to economic concerns. Order shipments had dropped 20% during the third quarter compared to last year. DM News says that in February, RedEnvelope reported a loss of $4.3 million versus a net income of $5.3 million during the same time last year. The RedEnvelope sale must be completed by May 30 and during that time RedEnvelope can accept other bids.

The Sharper Image, home over the years of all kinds of iconic gadgets like Razor Scooters and the Ionic Breeze air purifier line, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. They've seen net losses for the last 3 years, and earlier this week their stock plummeted all the way down to $0.41 per share.

Their downfall seems tied to the fact that they've always been so focused and dependent on the success of very limited and focused products. They're hoping to make a comeback, though, borrowing $60 million dollars and closing 60 of 183 stores nationwide.

I've always loved shopping in their stores and browsing their catalogs -- I hope they get it together and recover from this!

Hard times have hit a couple of big South Florida condo projects with two major condominium developers having filed for bankruptcy last week.. Strada 315 LLC, the developer of Fort Lauderdale's Strada 315, filed Chapter 11 after selling 48 of its 117 units. The 21-floor condo tower was selling off condos for between $230,000 and $600,000.Regions Financial Corp., the largest bank based in Alabama, originally lent $34.5 million to the project. About $16 million was paid off as the condos were sold but Regions would not extend the loan. The developers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week, saying they owe at least $50 million in debts to this bank and other lending partners. The company will continue operating as U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Miami court reorganizes its debts.

Beach House Property LLC, which is connected to Beach House Designed by Richard Meier, at 9449 Collins Ave in Surfside filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday. The 101-unit condo was set to be built on the property of the Beach House Hotel and would offer 101 condos at prices starting at around $1.5 million. The company owes its 20 largest unsecured creditors $4.6 million.

What is the future of these two projects? At Strada there are sales contracts on 51 of the remaining 69 units, but it is expected that some of these will not close due to the current grim conditions facing South Florida condominiums. The situation for the Beach House is even murkier. Apparently the project is way behind schedule and has according to a comprehensive article by Kevin Tomlinson of the South Beach Condo blog, been through several developers already. It's a shame since the project, shown at left, is the first Meier project in the area and attracted a lot of attention when it was first announced.