Former Developer of Sunset Skyscraper Files for Bankruptcy

A few weeks ago, the LA Weekly first reported about Molasky Pacific, a Las Vegas-based real estate firm, selling its share of the old CBS TV-and-radio complex on Sunset Boulevard to Apollo Real Estate Advisors, a partner in the development project to build a 40-story skyscraper on the site. It was a sign that things weren't all that kosher with Molasky Pacific's financials. Now, the Las Vegas Review Journal has reported that Steven Molasky, the owner of Molasky Pacific, has filed for Chapter 11. In other words, the son of legendary Vegas developer Irwin Molasky, is bankrupt.

The article says Molasky carries debts between $50 and $100 million, owing between 200 and 999 creditors money. Among them, Vegas casino titan Steve Wynn, who's a good friend of Irwin Molasky's, and Kenneth Wynn, Steve's brother, are owed nice chunks of change.

A week before the LA Weekly published the "Doomscraper" article, Julie Wong, a spokeswoman for City Council President Eric Garcetti, said her office "didn't know much" about Molasky and asked me for more information. I wasn't sure if she was feeling out my own expertise, or if she truly didn't know anything. If it's the latter, Garcetti may want staff to start checking the backgrounds of developers a little more closely--a ghost town skyline on Sunset and Hollywood boulevards, filled with empty or half-finished buildings, would be a horrible political legacy.