The Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino may rise from the ashes now that local regulators have finally approved the gaming license of one of the property’s main investors.

The Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission in the Northern Marianas recently granted a conditional license to Tinian Entertainment Corp (TEC), an investor in the Tinian Dynasty property, whose owner Hong Kong Entertainment (HKE) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last December.

TEC’s license approval is viewed as the first step in the company’s complete takeover of the troubled property from HKE. Tinian Dynasty’s casino closed last September and its hotel operations followed suit in March. HKE’s gaming license was officially revoked in May for failure to honor its license commitments.

TEC, an affiliate of Tim Chen‘s Chinese Strategic Holdings Ltd, had been trying to win its gaming license for a year now but the pace quickened this spring as it became clear that HKE wasn’t coming back from the brink. If all proceeds according to plan, the casino-hotel could re-open by December.