"Poker Nation" room closed

[Nidociv]

Came across this at the Poker Nation website:
Does anyone know anything else about the new place? or if it will open?
looks like the "judge" rushed her into opening that room and she is now facing the consequences.

Poker Nation - a post-mortem

Sunday, November 28, 2010 - 02:55 PM MST
On the eve of the implementation and creation of a whole new club, I wanted to give you an explanation of what happened and what's going to happen.

First off, Poker Nation is no more. All operations have been closed or brought to an end. Nearly all of our accounts have been settled and closed. Some of you who have talked to me were aware that I, as a new businesswoman, made the mistake of getting myself into a 5-year lease, for rent that was way too high for the current economy. Granted, when I moved in, the shopping center was busy and bustling, but shortly after I moved in, our anchor (Albertson's) shut down and moved out. Over the next 2 years, tenant after tenant moved out. We lost major companies like Domino's and Blockbuster. The company that owned the shopping center eventually went into foreclosure on the property in August and it was scooped up by a huge company in New York.

I signed the lease in December of 2007 to open a retail store. Several months later, I was approached by someone who had an idea for a way to host poker games for a profit, legally. (Whether he was right or wrong about that is now being decided in court.)

On the eve of the implementation and creation of a whole new club, I wanted to give you an explanation of what happened and what's going to happen.

First off, Poker Nation is no more. All operations have been closed or brought to an end. Nearly all of our accounts have been settled and closed. Some of you who have talked to me were aware that I, as a new businesswoman, made the mistake of getting myself into a 5-year lease, for rent that was way too high for the current economy. Granted, when I moved in, the shopping center was busy and bustling, but shortly after I moved in, our anchor (Albertson's) shut down and moved out. Over the next 2 years, tenant after tenant moved out. We lost major companies like Domino's and Blockbuster. The company that owned the shopping center eventually went into foreclosure on the property in August and it was scooped up by a huge company in New York.

I signed the lease in December of 2007 to open a retail store. Several months later, I was approached by someone who had an idea for a way to host poker games for a profit, legally. (Whether he was right or wrong about that is now being decided in court.) In his quest for headlines, he rushed me into establishing a poker club in June of 2008 without adequate planning. That partnership broke down rather quickly as I was smothered by him and he caused a scene in front of our players on a Saturday night, and I broke off our partnership back in February of 2009.

I'm only telling you that because it explains what happened recently. I signed my lease with a stated purpose of operating as a retail store with incidental related products and services. The new landlord decided that what I was doing was not my stated purpose and they enacted a clause in my lease that raised my rent to double until I corrected the problem (by no longer hosting poker games). I believe that they were trying to squeeze me out of the shopping center because they are trying to get a new anchor in the center and the anchor had a problem with what we were doing. (Notice that no poker clubs exist in shopping centers with major anchors and you will see that this is likely the case)

I was served with papers threatening a lockout on the Friday before it actually happened. I spent the next several days trying to get a hold of someone who would talk to me. The landlord is in New York, but they have a local management company here in Phoenix who I was in contact with. I left messages and emails for the guy in Phoenix, I called the lawyers who served the papers, but no one would call me back for a nerve-wracking 6 days. I finally got another notice on Wednesday evening (two days before the lockout) with the name and number of a whole different company in Texas. I called first thing Thursday morning and discussed the problems with her. I made an offer to settle the problems, but she was not authorized to make the decision. She had to go back to the guys in New York and get back to me. I got my answer Friday morning when the doors were locked.

My heart sank with this. We had been working with them to move to another suite under our new business plan and structure, because we felt it was the only way we could get out of the old lease was by signing a new one in a suite more appropriate for our purposes (as you know, our suite was way too small). With only 3 days left of points-gathering, and 10 days before our much-anticipated freeroll, I now had no place and no tables. I looked into renting a meeting space at a couple local hotels, but they weren't a fan of what I was doing so I had to throw that plan out the window.

Over the next several weeks, I negotiated the settlement of my old lease at a fair price and as of November 19th, I am finally released from the terms of the lease and the business property will be released to me. The local property manager was on vacation for the holday, otherwise I probably would have been able to get our stuff sooner. I expect to be able to go in and get my stuff this week. The settlement was an important step because I could have been personally on the hook for the next 2 years of rent payments, as well as legal fees, and other fees. Having to go between the landlords in New York, and property managers in Texas and Phoenix, and the lawyers in Phoenix, made this process a lot longer and more drawn-out than it could have been if it were a local company.

In the meantime, we have looked at several new suites to establish a new club and we have selected our first choice. We have negotiated a fair price and terms. The suite is an adequate size for our plans, is located near a good draw for new members, close to amenities like 24-hour food, and it's already built out in a way that works well for us, which means we can have it ready for operation in a couple of weeks after we get the keys. As I have learned in the commercial leasing industry, leases are long and detailed and we may have to go back and forth on a few of those details before we are ready to sign. Fortunately, the owners of this shopping center are a small, local company, so we can deal directly with the decision-makers, a big plus! We have a few other locations that we like if we have to walk away from the first deal for any reason.

The new club will have a new name (logo and website is already done), and a whole new gameplan of operations and services offered. Once the lease is signed, we will be in a better position to starting hyping you up about our new plans.

About the freeroll: the new club will host the $3000 freeroll as a courtesy to Poker Nation. However, due to how long it's been, we will be postponing it until 1 month after our Grand Opening to give our players a chance to find the new club, sign up, and check us out. Then, we will offer the 3 lost days of point-gathering, and the freeroll itself a week after the final point opportunity. At that point, we will reset the scores and build up to another freeroll. We have other fun opportunities planned for the first month as we establish the new club's member base, so we hope you'll make plans to join us!