Canyon Capital Takes Over Namvar Property

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Canyon Capital Realty Advisors LLC has emerged as the new owner of Lake Tahoe’s Cal Neva Resort hotel and casino, a property previously owned by bankrupt Brentwood businessman Ezri Namvar.

The Century City real estate investment adviser took over the property after it failed to sell at separate April 8 foreclosure auctions in California and Nevada. Canyon had given a limited liability corporation controlled by Namvar a $26.8 million loan on the property, but the entity later defaulted on the note.

Canyon said it will seek to revive the 220-room Lake Tahoe hotel and casino, which literally sits on the border of California and Nevada, by attracting weddings and other events. Canyon hired NHH Hotels & Resorts, a management company, to run the hotel.

The resort, which first opened in 1926, drew Marilyn Monroe and the Rat Pack when it was owned by Frank Sinatra in the early 1960s. The singer bought the resort in 1960, but it began losing its luster in 1963 when Sinatra sold it after losing his casino license.

It was among the more high-profile properties owned by Namvar, who was forced into bankruptcy along with his Namco Capital Group Inc. investment company in December. Namco Capital owes more than a half-billion dollars to 464 creditors.

Namvar, 57, financed his Namco investments by gathering money from members of the Persian Jewish community in and around Beverly Hills. His real estate empire, valued at $2.43 billion last summer, collapsed last year during the real estate bust.

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