It looks like it’s going to take an above-market-value bid to snare Riviera Holdings. Shareholders drop-kicked a $17/share offer when the stock was trading at $20. Today comes the news that $21/share isn’t going to do it either, spelling finis to a takeover plan that paired developer Ian Bruce Eichner with D.E. Shaw Group. The 30-day negotiating period between the Eichner/Shaw alliance and Riviera ended without a deal being struck. RIV stock lost 62 cents on the day.

While only one major shareholder had declared publicly against the proposed acquisition, Eichner told The Associated Press that he’d been encountering considerable opposition behind the scenes. Which means that Riviera CEO William Westerman will probably have to go back to shopping the company around.

The real power behind the throne, however, appears to belong to the bloc of shareholders led by Barry Sternlicht and Brett Torino. Not only do they control nearly a fifth of RIV shares, the company’s proposed re-theming of the Las Vegas Riviera as a quasi-Rat Pack hangout bears an awfully strong resemblance to what Torino’s right hand, Scott Butera, had planned for the place had that $17/share bid gone through.

The good news for Sternlicht, Torino, et. al. is they still appear to be in the driver’s seat. The bad news is that any hope they might have entertained of Riviera shareholders having second thoughts and embracing their below-market-value offer has just gone up in smoke. Those shareholders believe they have seen the future — and it costs more than $17 a share.