[vegasrain84]

Streamline Tower looks like they are close to going vertical.. They have a crane now on site.. most of the excavation is completed..

I hope that HUE Lofts breaks ground soon! I really like that project, and it would be nice to see the ARTS District explode with tower cranes.. Plus Gateway tower too.. I like it as well..

[LMich]

Can someone snap some shots of the Molasky Corporate Center along Grand Central Parkway downtown?

[GeorgeLV]

Can someone snap some shots of the Molasky Corporate Center along Grand Central Parkway downtown?


Here's one posted about two weeks ago by Bender13 from the RJ.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Apr-19-Wed-2006/photos/downtown.jpg

[LMich]

Thanks. Does anyone know who the architect is? I know who the developer is. BTW, speaking of the Palms, has anyone noticed that the renderings showing all three towers always has the Palms Fantasy Tower (Tower II) shorter than the original tower? Is it really taller in real life than the original tower, or were plans changed? If so, the height in the diagram needs to be changed.

[vegasrain84]

Tomorrow, I will see if one of my buddy's will drive downtown and along the strip so I can snap some photos.. I've been meaning to do it for a long time, but just haven't got around to actually doing it.. So in the next few days, look for an extensive photo update on Vegas Construction..

[GeorgeLV]

Thanks. Does anyone know who the architect is? I know who the developer is. BTW, speaking of the Palms, has anyone noticed that the renderings showing all three towers always has the Palms Fantasy Tower (Tower II) shorter than the original tower? Is it really taller in real life than the original tower, or were plans changed? If so, the height in the diagram needs to be changed.

I go to the movies there all the time, so I can say with confidence that the Fantasy tower is slightly taller than original tower. The floor count is probably less than 40 though as several floors are double height.

[LMich]

I like the Palms theater, too, if even just for the experience. The Palms is one of the coolest resorts in town.

[LMich]

Hey, could you guys update me on these projects either approved or proposed?

1. French Quarter Lofts - East Bonneville at South Casino Center, this is a small development (11 stories, 34 units) that has been approved. Construction was to start in late 2005, with a summer completion date of this year, but I've heard nothing, and their site hasn't been updated.

2. Key Largo - 377 E. Flamingo Rd., this is a tiny, 3-story Quality Inn hotel east of the strip that has proposed 2 towers, one hotel and one condominium. According to Emporis.com they were approved, but I don't remember hearing about them at all.

3. Royal Resort Hotel Tower - 99 Convention Center Drive, I'm simply wondering if this is still a real proposal or just a vision at the moment?

4. The Flatiron - Does this have a website?

5. Dynasty Tower (Rio Drive Tower, Hunter High-Rise): was this ever a publically released proposal?

[colemonkee]

Got this today in my email. I really hope they don't put that huge "Charlie Palmer" sign at the top...

http://img336.imageshack.us/img336/9895/render5hb.jpg

[vegasrain84]

For anyone up for some excitment at 2:30 this morning, you should go to see the Boardwalk imploded.. I think I might just stay up and go down to the strip to see it.. The Bellagio Parking Garage still isn't done, but I am sure that once it is in the next few months, that CityCenter will start going up.. They are doing a lot of Site Preparations already, they have the front of the site cleared, and only the back parking lot remains.. Cant wait!! Anyone know of any other renderings of what the whole thing will look like? I have seen bits and pieces, but no final rendering..

[vegasrain84]

Developers hire local talent for W condo-hotel work

Klai Juba, M.J. Dean will work on project

By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Developers of the $1 billion W Las Vegas condominium-hotel project planned for Harmon Avenue and Koval Lane have selected a general contractor and architect, both from Las Vegas.

M.J. Dean Construction, builder of Mandalay Bay, Monte Carlo, Luxor, Circus Circus, Hard Rock Hotel and Panorama Towers, has been named general contractor.

Utility installation work has begun on the 24.5-acre site and M.J. Dean is building the $5 million sales center for W Las Vegas Residences.

Las Vegas-based Klai Juba Architects is working with Lacina Heitler Architects of New York in designing the hotel, casino and residences.

Charles Allem Designs was also named to the project.

W Las Vegas is being developed through a partnership between Edge Resorts and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide.

The project will include a mix of hotel and condo-hotel units with resort-style amenities.

Edge Chairman Reagan Silber said assembling the development team for W Las Vegas is a "huge step forward." In January, W Las Vegas secured $232.5 million in development financing led by Société Générale Corporate and Investment Banking.



Find this article at:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/May-08-Mon-2006/business/7174920.html

[AhChu]

I was watching TV this morning and I saw this site a new high rise concept called Sullivan Square. THeir website is www.quiteordinary.com . I haven't heard or seen anything on this suburban project yet. Does anyone have more information?
:shrug:

[ScottG]

BTW - whats the most annoying thing about some condos? No lights at night- right? well i noticed the residence at mgm turnberry tower 1 - which now took its crane down. its finished on the exterior, so they are test LIGHTING! the crown atop the tower will be lighted which each side lit up as well.

its pretty nice. now we can see them at night! Turnberry place should light up there tops as well.....i would doubt panorama has lighting- havnt seen any.

Oh Those balconies facing the strip on the new fantasy tower at the palms..well they are actually glass pools! nice huh?

i havnt seen any new coverage on the boardwalk implosion (?)

[ScottG]

http://klastv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4876815

Las Vegas Boardwalk Casino Imploded
May 9, 2006 09:34 AM PDT Build Your Own Newscast

Las Vegas Casino Imploded


The Boardwalk Hotel and Casino is now a part of Las Vegas history. The structure was imploded to make room for a new mega-resort.

The 16-story structure came down on Tuesday morning at 2:30 a.m. It only took a matter of seconds for the building to fall down creating a thick cloud of smoke and dust.

Nearly 1,000 explosives were strategically placed on six different floors.

"It was amazingly impressive. It's just an everyday thing for Vegas, it's out of this world," said Gary Johnson, who watched the implosion.

After 38 years of business, The Boardwalk closed in January so MGM-Mirage could use the land to build its $5 billion City Center project.

The project will be a place for people to live, work and play. There will be hotels, a casino, luxury condos and a retail area.

The first phase of the project is expected to open in 2010.

[vegasrain84]

Great video of the end of the Boardwalk.. I went down to Harmon and LVB to watch.. I will probably go take some photo's this afternoon of the developments.. Look for some updates this evening.

[LMich]

Hey, I was reading a press release on ONE Las Vegas' website, and they say that only tower 1 will be done next year. Can anyone confirm exactly how many of the 5 towers is currently under construction, right now?

[BruceH]

I was watching TV this morning and I saw this site a new high rise concept called Sullivan Square. THeir website is www.quiteordinary.com . I haven't heard or seen anything on this suburban project yet. Does anyone have more information?
:shrug:

Yeah, it's a cool GREEN project - Durango and 215 - village concept and if it sells well will be a nice project. I think it will be the first green project to be built in Las Vegas.

[ScottG]

^^^ no the molasky corprate off ice downtown is green architecture as well

[vegasrain84]

If I am not mistaken, I believe that Project CityCenter will (once built) be the largest Green (LEED Certified) complex in the world. But yes Molasky is also a LEED Certified building.. They need to get that Bellagio parking garage done so they can start construction on the main CityCenter site!

[vegasrain84]

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/May-10-Wed-2006/photos/2union.jpg

The Oscardome won't soon tower above downtown Las Vegas.

But plans for the city's 61-acre Union Park parcel may still offer locals other reasons to visit a vacant lot city leaders hope will someday transform into a vibrant urban core for the 21st century and beyond.

The Las Vegas City Council on May 17 will discuss a new master plan for Union Park, a rail yard west of Main Street, between Bonneville Avenue and Grand Central Parkway.

Newland Communities, a San Diego company hired by the city last year to coordinate development of the site, will recommend nearly $4 billion in privately funded construction divided into four phases.

Upon completion in 2012, the neighborhood would feature 3,600 residential units totaling 4.9 million square feet; 2.3 million square feet of office space; 420,000 square feet of retail space; and three hotel-casinos with approximately 1,750 combined rooms.

Structures would be divided among civic, entertainment, medical and residential districts connected by streets and parklike plazas.

Buildings would include high-rise towers, as well as brownstones, lofts and walk-ups reminiscent of Philadelphia or New York City.

The Fremont Street Experience would be extended west, through the current site of the Plaza, to connect downtown's casinos with the new civic center.

A few blocks to the south, a modern City Hall would rise at the site of a parking lot near Main Street and Lewis Avenue.

A performing arts venue and Alzheimer's treatment and research center have already been approved for Union Park.

"This place, I think, is going to be the center of the valley," Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said Tuesday. "The whole world is going to be looking at it."

Goodman added: "We're not in a hurry to build anything other than something lasting."

Dan Van Epp, president of Newland Communities' Mountain Division, hopes others will adopt his company's vision of a locals-centric downtown.

"It's not the Strip. It's not going to be focused on and dedicated to tourists," Van Epp said Monday. "We're focused on achieving an interesting lifestyle for residents of the valley."

While some will choose to live in the area, Van Epp hopes residents from elsewhere in Southern Nevada will gather at Union Park to shop, dine, attend a concert or watch a movie.

Barring any last-minute changes, they won't go there to see live baseball or football, however.

Goodman has long sought a downtown stadium to better accommodate a major professional sports franchise. Past models for the 61 acres included such a venue, but Van Epp said a stadium is not part of next week's recommendation.

Traffic is the biggest obstacle, Van Epp said, since the nearby U.S. Highway 95/Interstate 15 interchange often clogs during workday commutes.

Goodman conceded a large stadium is better suited for somewhere else, perhaps near Cashman Center.

Still, he said a basketball/hockey arena could be built on as little as four acres. If the right opportunity arose, he'd reopen the possibility of a Union Park arena.

Through a public-private partnership with the city of Las Vegas, Newland serves as Union Park's master developer.

Its deal requires the city to compensate the company for its direct costs related to the site's development; Newland also has the option to pay fair market value for up to 7.6 acres earmarked for residential or retail development.

Newland is seeking outside partners that would use their own money to build upon the site; such third-party deals would require individual approval from the city.

Newland hopes to extend the Fremont Street Experience across Main Street into an area known as "The Gateway," a circular plaza that would lead to a promenade running the length of the development. For that to occur, the Plaza's main tower would need to be razed, a step Newland is negotiating with the Tamares Group, the hotel-casino's owner.

"It's to everyone's benefit, and I think they realize it," Van Epp said of Tamares. "But it's a big, complicated subject and there's a lot of detail to work through."

Goodman would like to see Las Vegas' major casino companies open properties in Union Park. When asked how their new blood would affect existing Fremont Street casinos, Goodman suggested competition would spur improvement within older businesses in the area.

"We're waking them up," Goodman said. "If they want to compete, and we've got a brand-spanking new hotel (in Union Park), ... it's a free market.

"Competition makes it better. I'm not scared of competition."

It's too soon to disclose any third-party development partners, but Van Epp said Newland has worked with 25 suitors so far.

"There are certain kinds of uses we want to pursue first and foremost, and we're deep into negotiations with three of those parties," Van Epp said.

He declined to name those companies, but said they include large-scale hotel and office/retail developments. He hopes to finalize the first contracts in the next 30 to 90 days.

Those projects would break ground in 18 to 24 months, with infrastructure improvements including streets and utilities to be installed next year.

City Manager Doug Selby said $40 million in infrastructure improvements are needed for Union Park's first phase. That money will be recouped through taxes paid by Union Park occupants, while maintenance of the development's open spaces would be financed by tenant fees similar to homeowners association dues.

Goodman said one potential high-rise tenant could have as great an economic impact as World Market Center, a $2 billion furniture complex now rising just west of Union Park.

The 61 acres will house or abut three of the city's most-distinctive architectural developments: World Market Center, a 12 million-square-foot furniture complex; the Clark County Government Center's futuristic sandstone environs; and the proposed Lou Ruvo Alzheimer's Institute, whose jagged look was designed by icon Frank Gehry.

Van Epp hopes Union Park will complement that nearby architecture without blending into it.

"We're going to attempt to define the architecture of Las Vegas in a way that it's not been defined before," said Van Epp, who termed his preferred style "desert modern."

Goodman wants a mixture of building styles, while Brandin added, "We want to see art in the architecture."

The Related Cos., a New York-based partner in the $2 billion World Market Center, was Union Park's previous master developer. Its contract was canceled in October when Related said it could not meet city deadlines for development of the site.

Van Epp said Related's progress helped shape his company's plans going forward.

"Nobody's work that's been done over the last five or six years has been ignored, but, on the other hand, what we're proposing builds upon that with a different, more-focused plan," Van Epp said.

Goodman praised Related's groundwork, though he added the company was ultimately dropped because it "had a very full plate" of other Las Vegas projects occupying its attention.

In recent weeks, Newland twice sponsored focus groups that brought together more than a dozen U.S. and international development experts who discussed plans for portions of the site. The project has been a priority here and at Newland's San Diego headquarters, he added.

The development will target a younger crowd that "wants to be where the activity is," as well as baby boomers seeking a change from the suburban lifestyle, said Van Epp, who oversaw development of Summerlin during an eight-year tenure as president of The Howard Hughes Corp.

He hopes price points will reflect a wide diversity of incomes, though skyrocketing high-rise development costs could realistically price some residents out of the development.

Van Epp could not determine a price for the development since specific projects have yet to be nailed down. But he suggested multiplying 10 million square feet at $400 apiece to produce the $4 billion tally.

Outside Nevada, Newland is working on more than 60 communities in a dozen other states, including a 3,750-acre project near Estrella Mountain Ranch in Goodyear, Ariz.

It previously developed Mountain Park Ranch, Phoenix's first master-planned community, and is currently backing Dallas' Stonebridge Ranch and Cinco Ranch in Houston, which Robert Charles Lesser & Co, an independent real estate advisory firm, listed as two of the country's Top 20 master-planned developments for 2005.

[Bender13]

Great to see something happening with Union Park. It's kind of sad to see no stadium there, but they're right a stadium there would be horrible for traffic on game nights. If we had a light rail and the monorail extending downtown, then I could see a pro stadium working there, but with our public transportation system of just buses that share the road with thousands of cars, there's no way.

And if they want that area to be alive with locals thay're going to have to find a way to keep the prices on those condos down. I would love to live in a downtown high rise but I can't afford the $500,000 it costs for an 800 sf studio.

[LMich]

Anyone have an answers to any of my questions over the past few days?

[sky-of-webs]

LMich, From what I gather onwww.the702group.com all of the properties that they have, and place a specific building on, like Flitiron is only a sales pitch for the land itself. My guess is they buy the land, grab the details and drawings from an existing building in another city, then get the zoning etc. approved for those specs, then market the land at a huge profit.
Check out their site and you will find all the projects are built somewhere else.
Flatiron is in new york or miami.
The Flatiron is a great looking project for that spot leading downtown.
It just sucks, no Ivana, and probably no Flatiron, they had such cool looks and great heights.

[ScottG]

^^^^ i believe you are wrong on your speculation, yes there are other flatirons - its a building catty-corner to an intersection......JMA designed the las vegas flatiron and it was proposed for that site. i doubt it is a sale pitch because it costs thousands of dollars to get an architect to design a building and it is illegal to use other documents and recall them as your own - so i doubt those 702 properties are sales proposals. i would say tho that some dont seem promising than others. flatiron would be a nice inclusion- everything 702 has doesnt seem to have any activity, but i doubt they are all faux proposals.


.........


...."The Fremont Street Experience would be extended west, through the current site of the Plaza, to connect downtown's casinos with the new civic center."


....does this mean the plaza gets demolished? i dont get it......

[williasj]

I have read that the plaza is actaully hoping to get in ont he action as far as union park goes, something about building a new tower across the tracks. I dont get the feeling that they are planning on demolishing the existing tower. I think it is more likely that the current plaza structure will act as a gateway to the westward extension of the fremont street experience.

[Bender13]

I think the plan is for the city to demolish the Plazas north tower to make room for the Fremont Street extention. In exchange for that land the Plaza will receive some land on the 61 acres that they can connect to the south tower with bridges over the train tracks.

This just showed up as breaking news on RJ site.
News Flash
Hard Rock sold
Upscale hotel operator Morgans Hotel Group Co. has agreed to buy the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas for $770 million in cash from the property's founder and chairman.

Peter Morton co-founded the Hard Rock brand in 1971, and in 1996 he sold his chain of Hard Rock Cafes to the London-based Rank Group PLC for $410 million. He opened the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas in 1995. It has 647 rooms and a 30,000-square-foot casino.

The Morgans Hotel Group, an owner and manager of luxury boutique hotels that went public in February, runs the Hudson, Morgans and Royalton in New York and the Delano in Miami, among other properties.
Posted 3:07 p.m. 05/11/06

[vegasrain84]

I have been talking about it all week, but today I finally decided to go take photos of Construction Progress..

Enjoy!!


Downtown


World Market Center

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/WMC2.jpg


Streamline

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Streamline.jpg


Soho Lofts

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Soho.jpg


Newport Lofts

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Newport1.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/newport2.jpg


Molasky Corporate Center

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Molasky2.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Molasky1.jpg


Juhl Lofts

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/juhl.jpg


South Strip


SouthCoast

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/SouthCoast.jpg


One Las Vegas

To answer any questions, only one tower is Under Construction.

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/OneLV.jpg


Boca Raton

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/BocaRaton.jpg


Off Strip


Panorama Towers

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Panorama2.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Panorama3.jpg


Hughes Corporate Center

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Hughesctr.jpg


Turnberry Tower 1

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Turnberrytower1.jpg


Turnberry Tower 2

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Turnberrytower2.jpg


Turnberry Place Tower 4

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Turnberryplace.jpg


Palms Place

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Palmsplace.jpg


Las Vegas Strip


Trump Tower 1

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Trump2.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Trump1.jpg


Allure

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Allure.jpg


Sky

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Sky2.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/sky1.jpg


Hilton Grand Vacation Club

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/HiltonGVC.jpg


Palazzo at Venetian

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Palazzo3.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Palazzo2.jpg


Encore at Wynn

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Encore.jpg


Aladdin (Planet Hollywood Renovation)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Aladdin.jpg


Harmon Corridor


Planet Hollywood Towers

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/PlanetHollywood2.jpg


Marriott Grand Chateau

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Marriottvc.jpg


MGM Signature- (Tower 2 now topped out)

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/MGMSig1.jpg


MGM Signature with W Hotel and Condo Sales Center in foreground

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/MGMandWHotel.jpg


Cosmopolitan

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Cosmo1.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Cosmo.jpg


Project CityCenter

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/CityCenter.jpg

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Bellagioparking.jpg


Boardwalk Demolition

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e392/vegasrain84/Boardwalk.jpg

[sky-of-webs]

:doh: My humblest appologies, I was wrong on a few counts.
The Flatiron in Miami is only a proposal, and there is a noteable difference in the diagrams when viewed side by side. Height, and a podium angle on Miami's.
The diagrams are both done by our curiously absent Patrick. He must have info on the Miami tower and why they look so much alike.
Thanks for pointing out that JMA is the architech, that gives Flatiron a better chance of being built. And of course it has a name and not just an intersection as a property.:fingerscrossed:
I stand by my specs about the 702 groups methods. I'm not suggesting they infringe on copy rights, and I could find only Flatiron name and likeness in the diagrams. But for the lot of their "proposals" even several hundred grand to a mill or so for prelim renderings and drawings is not much compared to the increase in each sites land value. And the 702 site clearly states they are an investment group (( personal note- not a developer)) and each site is now currently "entitled" to its said conceptual project.

[LMich]

Very nice tour! I haven't been to Vegas since 2004, so these regular updates are great. I particularly like the looks of the Turnberry Towers and the Panorama Towers. I'd like to see how the area looks from the Stratosphere, now, in a panorama.

BTW, I'd thought I'd never see the day there would be construction in the area between the Strip and Downtown. But, I always believed it had potential, as in a very odd way it reminded me of back home, and by that I mean a little older and historic (in comparison to the rest of the city, anyway).

[Patrick]

can someone help me and post a mini rundown on the new projects and updates like new renderings for the front page so I can add them

- thanks :)

[Ragging Tower]

Wow, great pictures, i miss Vegas, havent been there since 2004, but always want to go back. If i had to pick any city in the world i would pick vegas to live at.

[ScottG]

from vegastat:

Mayor Goodman is hell-bent on doing the right thing with the vacant 61 acres on west side of downtown. The latest plans (to be discussed at a city council meeting on 5/17/06) redefine the project. The main goal of the project is to create a true urban core the will be vital lasting and age well. This is not aimed at tourists, it's for the people who will live and work there.

The overall architecture for the project will be "desert modern" and will compliment (not copy) the surrounding projects, including the World Market Center, the Clark County Government Center, the the Las Vegas Outlet Mall.

The project would be divided into civic, entertainment, medical and residential districts connected by streets and wide plazas (large enough to be considered parks).

Due to traffic issues, there will be no stadium, although plans for a major baseball of football stadium in Las Vegas are still in play for a different location (possibly near Cashman Field).

The plans include the removal of the Plaza hotel tower allowing the Fremont Street Experience to be extended into the new area flanked by three casino/hotel projects totaling 1,750 rooms. That portion of the 61 acres will be the project's entertainment district.

A new City Hall is planned for an area between the railroad and Main St. (just south of the Plaza Hotel) and will be connected to the project via a bridge across the tracks.

A performing arts venue and Alzheimer's treatment and research center have already been approved for Union Park.

3,600 "affordableish" residential units will be divided among High-rises, brownstones, walk-ups (over retail) and lofts.

The Medical District will include the F

2.3 million square feet of office space and 420,000 square feet of retail space round out the plan.

[Reverie]

Nice forum and pictures. I had no idea there were this many things proposed. I've noticed the big ones like Trump, the Panorama Towers and Turnberry for months.

Project Citycenter looks to be a massive and beautiful project.


I stumled onto a website while searching fopr infomation, has anyone heard about this new proposed Las Vegas project listed on this website?

www.wsgdevelopment.net under the properties/residential section.

It would be nice to see a bridge between two towers like that, like Petronas towers.

[GeorgeLV]

For those that don't get out by the southwest beltway much, steel is rising at the Spanish View tower site.

[sky-of-webs]

Is anything going on at the pinnacle site?

[vegasrain84]

Sandhurst high-rise still on

Developer says company close to building downtown luxury condos

By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/May-13-Sat-2006/photos/business.jpg

High-rise developer Michael Mirolla acknowledged rumors about the demise of Sandhurst luxury condominium project on Grand Central Parkway and said he's had offers to buy the 3.2-acre site, but he's not ready to throw in the towel.

The property was privately listed for sale as an exit strategy if the project fails, even though Mirolla said he's going forward with the development.

"We have decided as a company that we want to build this project," the New York native said. "Our objective is to build and we're very close to achieving that objective. We want to thank our buyers for being patient with us."

Mirolla, former vice president of real estate services for Citibank, is negotiating with Corus Bank of Chicago as the primary lender. He met with executives from New York-based JPS Capital earlier this week to discuss mezzanine financing.

He's in the last stages of the loan process and construction bid from a general contractor, whom he refused to name until all the documents are signed. Building permits are about four weeks away, Mirolla said.

Construction was originally scheduled to begin in second quarter 2005. Residential Constructors, a division of McCarthy Building, had been announced as general contractor and estimated cost was $100 million.

"We were prepared to build. Construction costs had soared 30 percent above our project cost in July 2005 and that's what stopped us," Mirolla said.

Construction costs are now estimated at $200 million.

The 398-unit, 35-story Sandhurst tower is 45 percent sold, with reservations converted to hard contract, which means deposits are nonrefundable. Most banks require at least 50 percent presales before committing to a high-rise condo project.

Prices started at $250,000 when Sandhurst began selling in January 2005, based on construction prices at that time and the strength of the market. Now they're $600,000 to upward of $2 million.

The high-rise industry has matured in Las Vegas, with some projects nearing completion and others canceled or delayed because of rising construction costs and difficult financing, Mirolla said.

"There are no barriers to entry in an immature market," he said. "Everybody runs down and gets entitlements and we went from zero to 45,000 units entitled. That crazy number never existed."

The ability of inexperienced developers to secure high-density entitlements, along with media reports of failed projects, scared the capital markets, Mirolla said.

"Now we're in a growth cycle. What's changed? Nothing. The fundamentals haven't changed. We've still got 5,000 people coming here every month, gaming is strong," he said.

Mirolla purchased the land from Union Pacific Railroad for $2.8 million, or about $20 a square foot, in July 2004. Land prices have skyrocketed downtown, approaching $220 a foot.

"We were pioneering," he said. "Who would have thought residential would be a good mix for downtown?"

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/May-13-Sat-2006/business/7361397.html

[vegasrain84]

From the LVRJ:

As city leaders prepare for Wednesday's vote on downtown's latest master plan, an unresolved concern is which, if any, gaming operators would invest in an area that's long struggled to compete with the Strip's newer, flashier resorts.

"This could be a jackpot" for casinos, said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, whose civic interests convey a natural bias favoring the prospects of Union Park, a rail yard west of Main Street near Grand Central Parkway.

Goodman said Tuesday he'd like the industry's largest companies to vie for Union Park's three designated hotel-casino sites, which would be surrounded by 3,600 residential units, high-rise offices and stores.

So far, however, only one operator contacted by the Review-Journal was willing to publicly express interest in the area.

Tamares Group, a privately held international investment company, is open to the city's plan to extend the Fremont Street Experience canopy into Union Park, a step that would require demolition or reconfiguration of the Plaza's north tower.

But managing director Michael Treanor said Thursday that Tamares has not committed to such a deal, nor has it agreed to a new city hall site that would be built on what is now a parking lot Tamares owns near Main and Lewis Avenue.

"There ought to be a situation in which we can enhance the value of our land and at the same time enhance the value of Union Park by providing for connectivity" to Fremont Street, Treanor said. "We're interested in continuing that conversation" with the city.

In exchange for such access, Tamares wants seven to 10 acres of Union Park land to build a new $500 million hotel-casino connected to the Plaza.

With or without that deal, the Plaza will be renovated or rebuilt, he added.

"We want to be part of the revitalization. We have $100-plus-million invested in downtown, and that number is only going to go up," Treanor said. "If we redevelop our property and don't provide for connectivity with Union Park, I think we'll be shorting ourselves ... and cause a huge blow to the value of Union Park."

Tamares is working on plans for the new Plaza, which Treanor said will cater toward middle-market gaming customers, a niche he believes is increasingly underserved.

The company, which also owns several smaller properties on 35 acres downtown, wants to create a Main Street entertainment district to enhance downtown offerings.

[Lecom]

Sweet development. Seems like Turnberry 4 took forever to rise.

[Reverie]

If you travel down Desert Inn going west, you'll see that Golden Glass is being installed on the backside of the Trump Tower.

[JonVegas]

I've seen this from the 15. I was pretty pleased with how it looks. Gold is always in danger of looking tacky and hopefully Trump is avoiding this. If nothing else, it will be in good company: The Mirage, the Hotel, Mandalay Bay, The MGM Residences, what am I forgetting?

[Patrick]

Ugh the Aladdin looks horrible

[LMich]

I've seen this from the 15. I was pretty pleased with how it looks. Gold is always in danger of looking tacky and hopefully Trump is avoiding this. If nothing else, it will be in good company: The Mirage, the Hotel, Mandalay Bay, The MGM Residences, what am I forgetting?

The biggest one of all: Wynn Las Vegas.

[JonVegas]

Yes, that blue color on the Aladdin is terrible. I see it on my way to work every day and I just feel helpless watching the color go on. It used to look very at home near the Venetian and Bellagio.

[GeorgeLV]

The biggest one of all: Wynn Las Vegas.

I wouldn't call the glass on the Wynn gold. It's a much darker copper/bronze tint.

[drobar]

That blue color is "Tacky Vegas". Who approved this change? What were they thinking?

[Reverie]

A number of cranes is seen in this photo, reflecting the high level of construction activity in the city these days. Exciting times...

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/4229/cranes1zp.jpg

[Patrick]

^wow I've never seen the Strip from that angle look at the MGM Residents right behind Wynn Las Vegas wierd....Hilton Grand Vacations Club Once Looked very tall until Sky Passed it.

Here are some random Stratosphere Cam shots

Here is a shot of Trumps Facade
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/1293/11477044315107762av.jpg

The HUGE Sands Expo/Harrahs Parking Garage
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/2809/ghj6on.jpg

Hilton Grand Vacations Club Phase Two, FINALLY got the building fully painted
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/9843/ghj0nc.jpg

Sky Las Vegas Detail
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/5110/ghj6ph.jpg

Palms Fantasy Tower finally finished the top
http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/9710/ghj5mo.jpg

Allure from the pool area
http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/8499/ghj1uz.jpg

[GeorgeLV]

I was downtown today and noticed Streamline is putting up their crane and is well underway on their foundation.

[Reverie]

Maybe this is a job better suited for Spiderman. But instead, a lone window washer is tasked at cleaning the windows as SOHO Loft's opening day gets ever closer.

http://img453.imageshack.us/img453/5424/washer1097pn.jpg

Not the best skyline view but gives another angle to some familiar buildings. Trump Tower is in this photo althought he is a bit hidden. Taken from a 2nd floor Chinese restaurant on W. Spring Mtn. Rd. and Jones.

http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/5612/chinatown21gt.jpg

[ScottG]

i went to red rock station las night. let me say: unbelievable. this definietly combeats (and beats) with the strip. VERY LAVISH. in the casino there is a sales office for residences at red rock. there is a model and somoe renders- i wanted why nothing has been online. anywho, it is 2 twin towers, about... 18 stories, no taller than the hotel. they are black..or dark dark red. with white/ tan horizontal striping. looks very posh.

[ScottG]

Manhattanization.com


$4.5 Million Penthouse Purchased at Allure
Allure Growing Up
Allure Condo Towers
Vertical construction is well underway on Tower I at Allure Las Vegas and the luxury high rise continues to enjoy strong sales. The recent purchase of a $4.5 million unit on the top floor of Allure reaffirms that there is an ongoing and robust appetite for sophisticated urban high rise living in Las Vegas.

Located on Sahara just west of The Strip, Allure Las Vegas is an architecturally stunning pair of condominium towers each forty one stories high. Tower I of Allure has already grown more than 16 stories and is estimated to be complete in November 2007. Additionally, groundbreaking on Tower II is planned for the fall. In total, the dual towers of Allure will offer 900 luxurious residential high rise units.

According to Alan Schachtman, senior vice president for The Fifield Companies, Tower I is nearly 90% sold out and Tower II units have recently been released for purchase.

"Today's Las Vegas high-rise shoppers are increasingly savvy -- they understand that with the city-wide condo supply shrinking, Allure offers quality, value and a strategic location as well as a credible developer with a demonstrated track record. The new owner of this customized penthouse residence was attracted to the exceptional amenities Allure offers as well as the spectacular Las Vegas strip views. Our buyers typically have very discriminating taste and they want their personal space to be a reflection of their personality and style. We were happy to work with this client to create a space that uniquely expresses who they are. The further ability to create your own floor plan on the top floor with incredible panoramic views proved to be very attractive to this purchaser. We are seeing very strong demand for all of the penthouse units."


Construction
When finished, Tower I will have 428 units comprised of studios, one, two and three bedroom residences, as well as tower suites and extraordinary penthouses. Mirroring the success of Tower I, Tower II will have 472 units with 14 distinct open floor plans being offered ranging in size from 669 to 6,235 square feet.

Every carefully planned Allure residence will have exceptional designer ready appointments and finishes. Impressive floor to ceiling windows and spacious balconies will allow for sweeping views of The Strip, the valley's breathtaking mountain ranges and the city lights of Downtown Las Vegas. Hands down, Allure offers the best views in Las Vegas.


Pool Rendering
Each home will provide an atmosphere of personal luxury with exceptional amenities and superbly executed finishes, such as stainless steel GE Profile appliances, granite counters, European style cabinetry, Italian tile floors and lush landscaping with an expansive pool deck with hotel-like amenities, (including wireless high speed internet access) surrounded by private exclusive cabanas. The penthouse units will feature upgraded GE Monogram series appliances with built-in wine coolers and upgraded finishes including marble floors.

Unique to this community, Allure Now is Allure's new and very exciting Five-Star Concierge service. Allure Now will allow Allure purchasers to enjoy the Las Vegas lifestyle while their residence is still being built. This unique, exclusive concierge service is available to buyers at the time of their Allure purchase.

Additional Allure Five-Star services include valet parking, storage spaces, 24 hour doorman, club room with catering kitchen, fitness center with state of the art equipment overlooking a lushly landscaped pool deck, business center with Wi-Fi, media room and conference facilities, a private wine cellar and professional on-site management.

Allure is scheduled for completion November 2007.



...........
Hard Rock Sold
Hard Rock Sold for $770 Million Cash
Hard Rock Hotel
>>more images
Morgans Hotel Group Co. a fully integrated hospitality company that owns and operates boutique hotels in gateway cities under well-known brands such as Delano, Mondrian, and Hudson, today announced the signing of definitive agreements to acquire the 647-room Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, a neighboring 544-unit apartment complex, and other related assets from Peter Morton for an aggregate purchase price of $770 million in cash.

"It was just time to take the chips off the table," Morton told The Associated Press. "I'm looking to do some different things in my life. That was it."

Morton co-founded the Hard Rock brand in 1971, and in 1996 he sold his chain of Hard Rock Cafes to the London-based Rank Group Plc for $410 million.


Rendering of the Hard Rock currently on hold
The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is an entertainment resort located on 16.7 acres situated strategically on Harmon Avenue, one of Las Vegas' fastest growing entertainment corridors. It was built in 1995 and expanded in 1999. The property offers an energetic entertainment and gaming experience with the services and amenities associated with a boutique luxury resort hotel. The property has also been a popular music scene destination where such acts as the Rolling Stones, Coldplay, Alicia Keys, David Bowie, Snoop Dogg and Nine Inch Nails have all performed.

Features of the property include an 11-story Hard Rock Hotel tower with 647 guest rooms; a 30,000 square foot casino; a beach club with a swimming pool that was selected by the Travel Channel as one of "The Top 10 Pools" in the world; the Body English nightclub; "The Joint" concert hall; five restaurants, including the world famous Nobu; three cocktail lounges; several retail stores; and an 8,000 square foot spa, salon and fitness center.

The adjacent 23-acre land parcel, including a 544-unit apartment complex currently situated on the parcel will be held for further development. The acquisition includes the rights to use the "Hard Rock Hotel" and "Hard Rock Casino" trademarks in connection with casinos and hotel/casinos in specified locations, as well as certain other intellectual property such as merchandising and retail rights.


Purposed Echelon rendering
This transaction represents the third planned offering in the Las Vegas market by Morgans Hotel Group. The Company has already announced a joint-venture partnership with Boyd Gaming for their development project, Echelon Place, that will be anchored by two prominent MHG brands, Delano and Mondrian, which are expected to add a total of 1,600 rooms to the market in 2010.

“The prior owner has in-place plans and entitlements for a $1.2-billion hotel expansion and condominium development and we are acquiring those plans as part of the transaction,” said Scheetz. “There is significant expansion opportunity on the Hard Rock property as well as the neighboring parcel; we plan to maximize any expansion to maximize the amount of land available for sale or JV and extract every drop of value….”


Purposed Hard Rock rendering
“Since Las Vegas is the largest hotel market in the US, it is key for our growth strategy,” says MHG chief executive W. Edward Scheetz. “This transaction provides us with an immediate and highly-visible entry into this market."

MHG says the acquisition will be financed with cash on hand and MHG's corporate line of credit, as well as a $700 million credit facility from an affiliate of Credit Suisse. The transaction is expected to close no later than the first quarter of 2007.

"We believe that having immediate operating capability in Las Vegas will be a help for our overall intended presence in the market,'' Scheetz said.

The company will continue to run the resort under the Hard Rock brand for now, he said. Morgans did not have immediate plans for a more than $1 billion condominium project that had been planned for a 24-acre site next to the casino.

Hard Rock Hotel Inc. stopped sales and offered refunds on deposits for some of the 1,350 units at the condo project in February.

"We're going to take a look at the whole package with a fresh set of eyes,'' Scheetz said. "We may sell off some or all of the land, yes.''

Analyst David Katz of CIBC World Markets Corp., said of the deal, "I think the price they're paying is fair.''


Las Ramblas Rendering
But he noted that many questions remained, such as whether the proposed $3 billion (euro2.36 billion) George Clooney-backed Las Ramblas complex beside the Hard Rock on Harmon Avenue would still be built.

"It really depends on how much capital of Morgans this will consume,'' Katz said.

"I founded the Hard Rock brand. It's been great to me. I sold two companies with that brand totalling $1.2 billion. And it's just time to move on,'' he said.

About Morgans Hotel Group

Morgans Hotel Group Co. (Nasdaq: MHGC), which is widely credited with establishing and developing the rapidly expanding boutique hotel sector, owns and operates Morgans, Royalton and Hudson in New York, Delano and The Shore Club in Miami, Mondrian in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Clift in San Francisco, and Sanderson and St Martins Lane in London. MHG has other property transactions in various stages of completion, including projects in Miami Beach, Florida, and Las Vegas, Nevada, and continues to vigorously pursue its strategy of developing unique properties at various price points in international gateway cities in the United States, Europe, South America, Asia and around the world.

....
from vegasTAT

News 5/16/06 Edge Resorts and Starwood Hotels (owners of the W Hotel) have acquired some more land from D. R. Horton increasing the size of the W Hotel property (see map image below).

http://www.vegastodayandtomorrow.com/whotel.htm

[JonVegas]

Best part of Red Rock: Capriottis in the food court! I hope this is a trend.

[Reverie]

FYI - Red Rock Residences Website

http://www.theresidencesatredrock.com/

These towers I heard are planned to be several feet higher (20?) than the main hotel tower. With all the debates that over heights the surrounding residents caused. For these towers, Station says since the land will be lower then that of the hotel tower, the condo towers will look as tall as the hotel tower despite being higher.

What do you think, is this cheating on Station Casino's behalf? I understand the orignal uproar over views at red rock and the casino's size but deep down I thin many of those residents just hated casinos in general. Yet look how they flock now to Red Rock Resort in droves.


Speaking of Station Casinos, a future casino from them called Durango Station is planned. As I heard on the 5pm news, if you call 702-853-1336 to reserve your name, you can visit their free meeting tomorrow at Sierra Vista High School, where the preliminary plans for Durango Station will be revealed and they will take your input on what you want to see in the new resort.

[LMich]

I added the Red Rock Residences to Emporis.com a week or two ago. They will, indeed, be taller. But, they won't appear that way as they will sit on a lower elevation than the hotel/casino complex making them appear the same height.

[ScottG]

http://img459.imageshack.us/img459/6975/untitled9uz.png

[Reverie]

The future Durango Station Hotel and Casino.

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/4780/snapshot200605182123196ho.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Patrick]

Red Rock looks great!

Looks like HGVC Tower Two is open or is about too....I like the lights
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/4411/ghj7dl.jpg

And is that lighting I see on the MGM Residents Tower One? I hope so...but I need a better shot than this Tower Two is completley blocking tower One.
http://img238.imageshack.us/img238/5460/ghj1of.jpg

[Reverie]

A Future Bedroom Community for Vegas or sprawl getting insane?

Another interesting article, think about this seriously for a bit, I think it's mindblowing to put this in the middle of nowhere.

160,000 homes planned for Coyote Springs
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2006/may/18/566629973.html


The Coyote Springs Valley sprawls between three Southern Nevada mountain ranges in an area rich with creosote, cactus, purple sage, jack rabbits and tortoises.

In the midst of this classically Western setting, thousands of homes are expected to sprout soon. Already, workers are busy carving out a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course to help entice residents. Harvey Whittemore, the powerful lobbyist-turned-developer, says he is as proud of the natural elements of Coyote Springs as he is of the golf course.

The work under way is the product of a decade of scientific study, land-use planning, cajoling governments and sometimes acrimonious debate. It is the product that some once thought impossible: a new city in the desert, 55 miles north of Las Vegas, halfway to just about nothing at all.

"People said I was crazy," Whittemore says while touring the nascent development Tuesday. "What I said was: You have all this land, the best land in Southern Nevada, and you've got water."

Most people still believe the project is confined to blueprints, he says, but the movement of heavy equipment on the site belies that belief: "When people talk about it, they think it's another four or five years. I tell them, no, it's another four or five months."

While land and water provide the essential ingredients for desert development, Coyote Springs would not be possible without federal and local governments.

The project's roots date to a controversial land swap Congress approved in 1988 for a rocket-production company. In the swap, Aerojet, which owned land in the environmentally sensitive Florida Everglades, traded that land for 29,000 acres at Coyote Springs and a 100-year lease on another 14,000 acres.

In 1996, the company agreed to sell the land to Whittemore's holding company.

Two years later, Coyote Springs Investment finalized the deal and began the process of winning federal and local approval for the development. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has an interest because the land included habitat for the endangered desert tortoise. The Bureau of Land Management had oversight of the leased land and surrounding land.

Both Lincoln and Clark counties also had zoning oversight, and wanted to ensure that municipal services would be provided without charging existing taxpayers. Whittemore and a small army of consultants overcame the permitting challenges, in part by creating self-funding districts for the municipal services, and in part by providing land and water for habitat protection.

Among the agreements, Coyote Springs Investment will provide 460 acre-feet of water annually - about 150 million gallons - to sustain the endangered Moapa dace, a 3-inch fish found in northeast Clark County.

The dace would receive the water through releases within Coyote Springs' Pahranagat Wash, which feeds the Muddy River 15 miles downstream. The wash is part of the land set aside from development, and the set-aside and agreement to release water for the dace helped Whittemore and the project win an award this spring from the Environmental Protection Agency.

Water is, understandably, a crucial element of the Coyote Springs project. Whittemore is working to win state approval to import water from Lincoln County for the project.

In 1998, however, he made news by selling a portion of the water he controlled by purchasing the land. The Southern Nevada Water Authority, the water wholesaler for all of urban Las Vegas and its suburbs, paid Whittemore $25 million for 7,500 acre-feet.

The money was helpful, but so was the strategic alliance with the Water Authority, Whittemore says. Even with the sale to the authority and the portion going to sustain the Moapa dace, Coyote Springs still has 4,140 acre-feet - more than 1.3 billion gallons annually - for the project, more than enough to support thousands of homes and the first golf course.

That water is already pumping to the project, filling lakes on the golf course and watering thousands of plants in the project's greenhouses. The project's well goes 700 feet into Coyote Springs Valley's deep aquifer.

Pardee Homes is among the homebuilders who have dived into the project. Klif Andrews, Pardee's division president, says his company and four other builders will begin selling custom lots later this year. Homes in the master-planned community will go on sale in August 2007, and people can open their front doors by the end of that year.

Andrews anticipates selling "1,000 to 1,200 homes a year for the first two, three years."

Not everyone is as impressed with the project. Some environmentalists have opposed the project from the beginning. Jane Feldman, a Sierra Club activist, served a few years on a technical committee that advised Whittemore's firm on how to limit the development's environmental impacts.

The basic problem is the location, miles away from existing urban development, Feldman says: "We have tremendous concerns about what's going on out there. Leapfrog urban development is just not smart by any definition of the word."

The distance means long drives for commuters working in Las Vegas, meaning more cars and pollution, she says.

While Feldman says federal and local governments should have blocked the development, she still credits Whittemore with providing natural space in the development: "That's how he's going to market his villages - as a place with a lot of open space, a lot of green space. It's as light as you can live in a leapfrog sprawl development."

Whittemore says he's done everything he can to make the project environmentally friendly. He was under no obligation to provide 13,000 acres for green space, he says, and would have received federal and local approval without it.

"The land is going to be developed," he says. "Don't you want it done to the highest standard? We have a true commitment to protecting the natural resources."

Whittemore realizes that his argument won't convince skeptics: "Some people suggest there should be no development at all. That's just not going to happen. What we can do is hold ourselves to the highest standards."

Coyote Springs does have some advocates within the conservation movement, although those supporters are from organizations that work closely with companies.

Mike Ford, Southwest director for the Conservation Fund, a nonprofit group that supports the purchase and conservation of sensitive land throughout the country, worked as a consultant on the Coyote Springs project.

"I'm pretty proud of what we've been able to accomplish," Ford says.

The development sets a new standard for development in Clark County, he says. The 13,000-acre set-aside "will be protected in perpetuity. It's exactly what we had envisioned."

The project also could get a thumbs-up from Audubon International, a nonprofit group not affiliated with the National Audubon Society.

Audubon International has given its endorsement to developments such as golf courses the organization views as environmentally sustainable.

"I'm interested in working with any company that's committed to building in a sustainable way," says Audubon International President Ron Dodson .

Dodson says he's worked with Whittemore before and that Coyote Springs could be "a model development for Audubon International."

Whittemore says he hopes the endorsements will win support for the project. Some opposition will always be there because of his history as a lobbyist , he acknowledges.

Looking over the valley that one day could be home to thousands of houses, condominiums, stores, clinics and schools, Whittemore says his success has generated some opposition:

"I think people are a little bit jealous. I am very blessed. I am the luckiest guy in America."

[illmatic774]

WTF!?!?!? 160,000?

Fuck, thats more like insane if you ask me.

[vegasrain84]

160,000 homes in the middle of nowhere?? Why?? I mean Lincoln County isn't a real happening place.. I can see maybe mesquite.. But this plot of land is in the middle of the desert.. in the middle of nothing.. Why dont they focus on building up along the west side of I-15 near Jean.. That would be smart.. That area will be full of stuff in a few more years especially with the new Ivanpah airport which is being planned.. Jobs, commerical development will be going in down near Jean in the next 10 years. That to me would be smart growth, plus its only 25 miles from Vegas vs. 55 miles to this "planned community of 160,000", and it has access to a major highway.. But hey what the hell do I know?? lol...


On another topic, I noticed as I was going down the strip today that Between CityCenter and Cosmo, there are a ton of cranes going up, at least 10.. Have they officially broken ground yet, because it looks to me like they have at least started some preliminary work? hmm...

[Bender13]

Oh man. I used to work for a residential designer who did projects for some of the big home builders here. I remember seeing preliminary concepts of that Coyote Springs development.

One of the big problems is that all those people who move out there will commute to Vegas by car. The only way out there is that old highway. After those people begin to move out there, this highway will make Blue Diamond Road look like a nice peaceful drive. Then just like Blue Diamond, after a few deaths, there will be public outcry for the county to widen the road, which they will do at taxpayer expense. And the developers will be left with all the profits and none of the infrastructure expenses of building a development out in the middle of nowhere.

[JonVegas]

Has anyone else noticed the new (brighter/multicolored) lighting scheme on the Stratoshere? I'm a fan.

[ScottG]

^^^^^yea!

i noticed that driving on the 15 (freeway). i do like it, it makes a more noticable presence.

[vegasrain84]

Sky should be topping out soon.. It is way bigger than I thought it would be being that it is only 45 floors.. I think the floors must have 12 foot ceilings..

I also noticed the gold glass being installed on both the back and the front of TRUMP.

The W Hotel and Residence Site is putting in lots of palm trees and more white construction barriers and fencing. The Sales Center is coming along nicely.. This project is definatly going to be built..



Here is my casual observation: Those projects which build their own Sales Center, and who spend a good chunk of money on their sales center have at least a 60%-70% chance of being built.

Suprisingly not a whole lot of projects have been cancelled (yet).. There are over 120 towers proposed, and only a handful have actually been cancelled.

I think that we will see an additional 15-25 towers of varying heights go under construction by years end.

[LMich]

A Future Bedroom Community for Vegas or sprawl getting insane?

Another interesting article, think about this seriously for a bit, I think it's mindblowing to put this in the middle of nowhere.

160,000 homes planned for Coyote Springs
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2006/may/18/566629973.html

I can't begin to even form words on how irresponsibly crazy this idea is. I'd like to see those 160,000 units kept inside the valley, and leave untouched nature well enough alone. It's not as if there is no more room, and even then it would be more responsible to keep building upward than leaping over mountain ranges to find virgin lands to rape.

[JonVegas]

LMich, I couldn't agree more. And, it's not as if there is no vacant land in the Valley. There are plenty of sections of town that are dying for development. Why build it out there? The greed and shortsightedness are staggering.

[The_Analyst]

Wasn't it just about 100 years ago that Vegas itself was "in the middle of nowhere?" Wasn't Bugsy Siegel viewed as a fool for building the Flamingo "in the middle of nowhere?" Wasn't Howard Hughes considered crazy for buying land miles from the Strip "in the middle of nowhere?" (And that middle of nowhere is now known as Summerlin). My point is that whether this development actually succeeds, I actually admire the guy for trying to create a vision of something. You could call it greed, but frankly, guys like Hughes, Wynn, Trump, Flagler (in Florida), et al., don't do anything for purely altruistic purposes do they?

Now, don't get me wrong, I am a fan of urban density. However, American culture is far from consistent and the 3 bedroom, 2 bath, single family home with a yard and a garage is pretty entrenched in our psyche as the embodiment of the American dream. Not everyone can afford a $600,000 high rise condo, and even if they were priced at $200,000 there's still a sizable population that would choose to go 50 miles out for a $200,000 SFR home rather than a condo.

I do agree that the highway access needs to be considered but then again, is Vegas paying for the infrastructure work on I-15 through Victorville, CA even though probably 90% of the traffic is on the way to Vegas?

[Reverie]

I'm all for suceess as well. The main thing is with the old guys like Hughes back then was that many of them could possibly how big Vegas would get. Adding 160,000 homes to a small city that Vegas was back then didn't seem so unreasonable. Water and other resources were an afterthought as water was seen as "plentiful" back then. Note all the gold courses and wasteful developments such as Desert Shores (near Summerlin) with its three huge lake, complete with boating piers! Needless to say they would never build those lakes today. I'm sure Coyote Springs will go with the water saving trends in the valley by banning front yard lawns, using desert landscaping and such, but it would make far more sense to build within the valley with its already existing infrastructure then having to draw pipes, power, gas to that empty valley up north.

I guess the suburban culture is a main reason. It would be a dream to think any western US city will overnight turn into a high density Hong Kong or Manhattan. But who knows waht it will be in 10-20 years as the timeline of Coyote Springs being built out is even longer than that. I hope we don't become North Phoenix by then.

[LMich]

Again, what you're missing is that we're talking about building a massive bedroom community outside the confines of the valley, which has not even filled up, itself. There is still more than enough room for even more sprawled suburban development. This "leap-frog" development, overleaping entire mountain ranges to build on virgin lands that don't necessarily need to be developed now (or even in the next decade) is irresponsible, and more importantly, unsustainable in the long run. I've been rather kind to excuse much of the sprawl within the valley, but this concept is just plain ridiculous. The idea is a perfect representation of everything wrong with the worst kind of sprawl. I'm not backing down, at all, on how ridiculous Coyote Springs sounds. We're not talking the great contiguous expansions of Vegas over the decades. We're talking of entire new cities being built outside of the confines of the Vegas valley to serve the Vegas (leap-frog development), a totally different, and much more irresponsible, concept.

[Reverie]

Not just ridiculous, insanity in every sense of the word :) As a fan of the desert who actually does see the beauty and what almost everyone else from other areas calls "a barren wasteland" (see turtle photo below), it's quite saddening. What irks me the most is that government did nothing to stop it.



Here's the photos incase you missed the links on the article page itself.

HARVEY WHITTEMORE, developer of Coyote Springs Valley, looks toward the 43,000-acre master-planned community site from a deserted section of U.S. 93 on Tuesday
http://www.lasvegassun.com/from.ed/2006/may/18/photos/P000075561.jpg

WHITTEMORE discussing golf course plans with Jack Nicklaus. Note nothingness in the background. Why Mr. Nicklaus are you helping him?
http://www.nicklaus.com/design/coyotesprings/images/1.jpg

The first of the planned 16 golf courses under construction. What water may be saved probably goes to watering these things. What a waste. The new golf course ban in the vegas valley probably isn't in effect here it seems.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/from.ed/2006/may/18/photos/P000075562.jpg

Eviction of the previous tenants of the land :(
http://www.lasvegassun.com/from.ed/2006/may/18/photos/P000075563.jpg

I know there will probably never be enough hi rise units to house a significant portion of Vegas but even if it's 50,000 downtown that's better then nothing. Time will tell. We'll see if he really gets thqt many houses sold or it becomes a bust when gas prices reach $5 a gallon. Though I think retirees may be a major portion of residents there due to the amount of golf courses planned.

Back on high rises, I think I saw drilling devices onsite at citycenter, right around where I think the two main towers are supposed to be. Has it really started? Someone get a closer look, maybe from the Monte Carlo parking garage to the south.

[GeorgeLV]

Again, what you're missing is that we're talking about building a massive bedroom community outside the confines of the valley, which has not even filled up, itself. There is still more than enough room for even more sprawled suburban development. This "leap-frog" development, overleaping entire mountain ranges to build on virgin lands that don't necessarily need to be developed now (or even in the next decade) is irresponsible, and more importantly, unsustainable in the long run. I've been rather kind to excuse much of the sprawl within the valley, but this concept is just plain ridiculous. The idea is a perfect representation of everything wrong with the worst kind of sprawl. I'm not backing down, at all, on how ridiculous Coyote Springs sounds. We're not talking the great contiguous expansions of Vegas over the decades. We're talking of entire new cities being built outside of the confines of the Vegas valley to serve the Vegas (leap-frog development), a totally different, and much more irresponsible, concept.

Don't forget that the various federal widlife preserves and blm boundaries guarantee that any development outside of the valley must leapfrong entire mountain ranges to get to unprotected land.

[Patrick]

poor tortise :( ugh building more water wasting golf courses....

[Vegas Grows Up]

It makes me sad to see the turtoise also. Enough is enough. I say we stop the sprawl and keep goin vertical! Save the wildlife and much better on water reclamation as my broker Bruce Hiatt always says!

Speaking of highrises, I thought everyone would enjoy these shots of the Cosmo and City Center dirt along with a new perspective of Panorama 1 and 2. I took these from the 35th floor penthouse at MGM Signature Tower A! AMAZING VIEWS

http://img61.imageshack.us/img61/1167/citycentermarch14th4gq.jpg

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/1061/cosmodirt6cf.jpg

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/3983/panomarch14th9ya.jpg

[Bender13]

Awesome pictures! Looks like CityCenter is under way. I thought they were still just working on the parking garage. This site is going to look so great once all those cranes start going up. Thanks for the pics Vegas Grows Up.

[ScottG]

cosmo has a looooooooooooooooooooooooooong way to go!

btw that citycenter construction office that went up behind new york new york is now finished, and open. but now across the street theres alot of construction goin on. its a small lot of anything to go on. anyone know whats happening?

also aladdin is almost done being blue. weird.why is panorama tower 1 taing so long to get rid of their last crane -same with the pams, but that tower is just crazy ugly.

i went by the pazzo and boy that thing is goin up fast. thats gunna be a great resort when finished. its funny, when they get done building those sky bridges that intersection starts booming with people. remember when the fashion show (mall) was so north that it wasnt considered to be part of the heavy foot traffic. the strip kinda died down after venetian, but now wynn and the bridges really 'extended' the strip.

its werid how each segment of the strip has its own action......

from mandalay to new york new york theres no foot traffic outside (its all inside form excalibur to mandaly) then the bridges, then from MGM to bellagio is the most foot traffic. because of showcase, the bellagio fountains, eiffle tower. then bridges. then from venetian to fashion show theresless foot traffic - because people stop in the venetian- carry over to TI. then bridges. then the wynn gets its gaugers and the mall has heavy foot traffic.

Once the palazzo opens that place is goin the adjust where the center of the strip is. - then encore, new fronteir, echelon, west ward hoe. etc etc etc etc. the hot-spot resorts now, are goin to see less business when these newer, more exciting place get built....

just dont forget about that small citycenter project goin up ;)

[Reverie]

Good photos. Although it's old now having been taken on 5/14, a week is an eternity here in Vegas :) There are a lot more drills at the Citycenter site now I'm guessing for the main towers. There are also more cranes on the Cosmo site as well.

Clever. I see what the citycenter guys did, when they got rid of all those little buildings along LV Blvd, they paved a temp parking lot there, so that they could relocate the cars from the area where they want to drill for the citycenter towers and thus start work on the towers before the Bellagio garage even opens. smart.

Citycenter is of course my favorite project. The biggest privately financed project in the country. When it goes up, it's not simply just building another building but building history itself.


Town Square will build fly-over ramp to ease traffic woes


Town Square will build fly-over ramp to ease traffic woes
BY TONY ILLIA
BUSINESS PRESS

Crowded malls can be a pain to navigate. Parking lots often are filled early ... so angry motorists then have to circle like piranha for an available parking spot ... which backs up traffic on main arteries. You get the idea. However, the developers of Town Square have solved that problem.

Turnberry Associates and Centra Properties are spending $3 million to construct a fly-over ramp in front of the 117-acre lifestyle development at I-15 and the Beltway, just south of Mandalay Bay. Little things like traffic access can often make or break a project.

The road improvement will help mitigate traffic flow along Las Vegas Boulevard. Motorists traveling north will be able to take the fly-over directly into Town Square. The fly-over then becomes an access road that loops around the perimeter of the complex.
Town Square retail structures are taking shape in anticipation of an October 2007 debut.

63,000 CARS EXPECTED DAILY

The fly-over creates quick, easy access to Town Square's planned 150 retail shops and 12 restaurants. Northbound and southbound motorists also can enter from the main Las Vegas Boulevard entrance. Roughly 6,800 cars a day now pass in front of the Town Square project site, but that number is expected swell past 63,000 when the complex debuts in October 2007.

"This is the only fly-over ramp of its kind in Nevada that takes motorists from a public street into a private parking lot," said John Toth, a Clark County traffic engineer. "The fly-over ramp will do two things: It will eliminate the need to add a traffic signal, and it will allow continual, unrestricted northbound access into Town Square."

The $750 million, 1.5 million-square-foot Town Square project calls for restaurants such as the Yardhouse, Brio, Sapporo and Claim Jumper, along with 100,091 square feet of loft-style Class A office space.

20-SCREEN MOVIE THEATER

Several national retailers have already signed leases, including: Victoria's Secret, Chico's, Lucky Brand, Cache and Tommy Bahama. There also will be an 89,000-square-foot, 20-screen movie theater onsite, operated by Dallas-based Rave Motion Pictures; a 24 Hour Fitness; a two-level, 92,000-square-foot Robb & Stucky home furnishings outlet; a 22,000-square-foot Borders Bookstore; a 50,000-square-foot Whole Foods; and a 270-room boutique hotel.

Town Square additionally incorporates the existing 175,000-square-foot Frye's Electronics superstore at 6845 Las Vegas Boulevard. Centra and Turnberry paid the Clark County Department of Aviation $5 million for the ground lease to the 16-acre site two years ago.

Town Square additionally features interconnecting side streets and 5,659 parking spaces with two garage structures.

"We are creating a one-of-a-kind shopping and entertainment destination and we want to make the Town Square experience as pleasant as possible from the moment patrons approach the site," said Jim Gdula, Turnberry Associates' director of development. "This design could set a precedent and may be an attractive solution for other developments with heavy traffic flow in the Las Vegas Valley."

In addition to the fly-over, developers are spending $7 million in other traffic upgrades, including a widened portion of southbound Las Vegas Boulevard from I-215 to Sunset Road. Construction on widening is scheduled to start this summer. The developers are also adding traffic signals, sidewalks, bus shelters and landscaping.

www.townsquarelasvegas.com

[Vegas Grows Up]

Glad everyone enjoyed the pictures! Here are some more taken from 35th floor Signature Tower A.

Take note of the final picture....Look how the crane ties into Tower B every 10 floors or so...Well look how it does not tie in at all until like the 20th floor. Bringing heavy buckets up is very exciting Im sure.

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/7441/mgm4db.jpg

To sign up for "Aaron Auxiers VIVA VEGAS!" Las Vegas market update newsletter shoot an email to Aaron@LuxuryRealtyGroup.com

[MsuMix]

CityCenter has a long way to go. lots of demo and utility relocation to be done on the site. Foundations will probably start coming along soon.

[The_Analyst]

I've stayed at MGM a couple times but never saw the pool area from above like that, I guess since the hotel tower is farther away. From the ground the pool doesn't look as extensive.

Does anyone think the Aladdin's new paint job makes it look a little like a beached cruise ship? Maybe they should drop the Hollywood name and go with Poseidon instead. They could do a lot with that theme in terms of some wild rides in the pool area.

[vegasrain84]

The nighttime rendering of Planet Hollywood looks ok.. What it looks like during the day is another story. They really did not think it through when they decided to change the paint scheme.. I actually think it may be possible that they may actually lose more money and go deeper into debt by continuing with this hideous choice of color and exterior than if they left it as the Aladdin with the orginal theme and colors.. Blue only looks good if it is on glass, and if it is a lighter blue color or a darker blue color, but medium blue anything is just a very poor color choice.. check out the nighttime rendering compared to what it actually looks like in the daytime.. ick..

http://www.vegastodayandtomorrow.com/planeth.htm

[Reverie]

General Growth Properties Unveils Plans for Summerlin Centre; Summerlin's Social, Civic and Commercial Heart

http://klas.images.worldnow.com/images/4937837_BG1.jpg


CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 18, 2006--General Growth Properties (NYSE:GGP), parent company of The Howard Hughes Corporation, unveiled details Thursday of its plans for Summerlin Centre -- the future social, civic and commercial heart of the 22,500-acre master planned community of Summerlin, located on the Las Vegas Valley's western rim.

Plans for Summerlin Centre include a 100-acre community hub that combines retail shopping, dining, office space, a hotel and residences, all surrounding a series of grand public plazas to be known as Summerlin Square. An adjoining 300 acres of Summerlin Centre, which includes the new Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa, will consist primarily of residential development, offering a wide array of housing styles set amidst town greens and gardens, all interconnected by paseos and pathways. Summerlin Centre will be located northeast of the intersection of the 215 Beltway and Sahara Avenue.

The eastern portion of Summerlin Centre will also include 1 million to 1.5 million square feet of office and commercial space, starting with the 6-story Business Bank of Nevada's corporate headquarters, for which ground has already been broken.

General Growth plans to begin construction of Summerlin Centre in spring 2007 and celebrate a fall 2008 grand opening.

"Summerlin Centre and Summerlin Square will be places of quality and charm where people come together to shop, work, play, relax, linger and people-watch. Summerlin Centre and Summerlin Square will be both an expression of the larger Summerlin community and a place that strengthens community," said John Bucksbaum, chief executive officer of General Growth. "We are paying close attention to the quality of the buildings and to the quality of the spaces between the buildings. Their collective purpose will be to create a place that brings people together."

General Growth planners based Summerlin Centre's features on extensive market research, including focus groups and meetings with local community leaders. Through a major collaborative effort involving several world-class architectural firms and consultants, General Growth anticipates development to be ongoing for more than a decade after the 2008 grand opening.

As a result of recent acquisitions, General Growth gained significant expertise with building large-scale mixed-use developments. Its other projects include the master planned communities of The Woodlands near Houston and Columbia, Md.

"We have found through development of large-scale mixed-use facilities that follow a carefully crafted plan, we achieve both critical mass and a harmony of uses. The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Meanwhile, our master plan will remain a living document, always subject to review and amendment as phases are complete and we learn more about features that work," Bucksbaum said. "Any of these buildings could succeed on their own but their success will be vastly greater because they are conceived and built with attention to the larger place they create collectively."

Highlights of the development include:

-- 1.2 million square feet of retail shopping including four major department store anchors, additional "mini-anchors" and other local and national retail merchants.

-- A north-south pedestrian street, or paseo, that invites visitors to stroll, window-shop or relax at outdoor gardens and seating areas. Much of the retail shopping and restaurants will be located on the first floor of low-rise buildings stretched along the paseo. A grid pattern of east-west streets will allow easy vehicular and pedestrian access and add vitality.

-- A central plaza, Summerlin Square, which will host public and civic events such as musical or dramatic performances and community celebrations. Located at the paseo's mid-point, in the heart of the development, it will serve as a local and metropolitan destination.

-- An east-west "Marketwalk," intersecting the paseo at Summerlin Square. As an important point of arrival from the east, the Marketwalk will receive special design treatment, including pedestrian shelter from the sun.

-- A 250-room, 11-story, 4-star upscale hotel with conference facilities.

-- At least 5,500 residences of all varieties, everything from single-family homes in park-filled residential settings to condominiums in buildings with street-level retail stores and restaurants. About 10 percent of the residences will be part of the development surrounding Summerlin Square.

-- Two class-A office buildings of five stories each with street level space containing retail shops. The buildings constructed in the initial phase will total more than 250,000 square feet. More office space could be added later.

-- To maximize comfort during summer months, ample use of shading with trellises, awnings and special-design curtains.

-- Shaded patios and seating areas located throughout Summerlin Square for outdoor snacking, respite from heat and whiling away the day.

-- A 10 to 15 year plan for ongoing development of additional residential, retail, hospitality, civic and office buildings, making Summerlin the centerpiece of a larger business center creating jobs, amenities, homes and quality of life for southern Nevadans.

The northern portion of Summerlin Centre already boasts the just-opened 414-room Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa, which offers entertainment, meeting facilities, 10 restaurants, a 16-screen theater, a world-class spa and a 3-acre pool complex. Summerlin Centre is 12 miles from the Las Vegas Strip.

To ensure high quality buildings and design, General Growth has assembled a team of world-class architects and design consultants including ELS, Berkley, Calif., project architects; Communication Arts, Boulder, Colo., environmental design and image; SWA Group, Sausalito, Calif., landscape architecture and urban design; CBT, Boston, hotel architecture and design; ROMA Design Group, San Francisco, residential community architecture; Rocky Mountain Institute, environmental sustainability consultants; and Martin Yoklik, an authority on outdoor comfort in warm climates.

"Central to the success of Summerlin Centre is our commitment to long-term vision, quality design and to organizing space that leverages the value of early-phase development, thereby enhancing the value of all future development," said Bucksbaum.

"We have an unwavering long-term commitment to Summerlin, with an ongoing willingness to adjust and modify plans in the short term as circumstances warrant. We always think of each step as one of many yet to come, with future phases of development anticipated and the ground made ready."

"Summerlin's location on the western rim of the Las Vegas valley, close to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, places great responsibility on our shoulders to be good stewards of the environment. By building according to our master plan, we avert urban sprawl and give people a place where they can live, work and shop all in close proximity without long commutes by car," said Bucksbaum. "We plan a commercial and civic center that is aesthetically complimentary to its beautiful surroundings and is a model for environment-friendly building and design."

Development of the Summerlin master planned community was started by The Howard Hughes Corporation in 1990 and final realization of the plan is expected by 2020. Today, more than 92,000 people live in 37,000 homes and apartments in the 36 square miles that Summerlin occupies. The community is currently home to 19 schools, nine golf courses, a dozen houses of worship, more than 100 parks and more than 120 completed miles of the Summerlin Trail. Summerlin's master plan calls for a variety of housing styles, parks, bike trails and retail and office space.

General Growth Properties acquired the The Howard Hughes Corporation in 2004.

General Growth Properties, Inc. is the second largest U.S.-based publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). General Growth currently has an ownership interest in or management responsibility for a portfolio of more than 200 shopping malls in 44 states, as well as ownership in planned community developments and commercial office buildings. The portfolio totals approximately 200 million square feet of retail space and includes more than 24,000 retail stores nationwide. General Growth Properties, Inc. is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GGP. For more information, please visit the Company Web site at http://www.generalgrowth.com.

[vegasrain84]

Revenue analysis key for builders

High-rise developers told to do homework

By HUBBLE SMITH
Las Vegas Review-Journal



One thing that the developers of the 25 or so high-rise developments that are now being built in Las Vegas had in common was a thorough and detailed financial analysis that they could present to bankers when they went looking a construction loan, an economic consultant said Tuesday.

"You need to do your homework. The heart and soul of a business plan will always be your pro forma," Thomas Climo said during a seminar by Lorman Education Services on high-rise development concerns. "You want your pro forma to be the same picture before you build as after you build."

The pro forma -- a revenue analysis of a project based on factors such as equity investment, debt financing, construction costs and sales and marketing -- will be sliced and diced by lenders looking for any discrepancies, any reason not to make the loan, he said.

Too many developers of luxury condo high-rises in Las Vegas have started with a Web site, fancy architectural renderings and a slick sales force before putting together the pro forma that calculates their expected revenues and an internal rate of return, Climo said.

Or, he added, they haven't been honest with the numbers and lied about their pro forma.

Banks treat high-rise developments as any other capital base that spins off cash flow, he said.

"Lenders have grown to have this huge disbelief of what's going on in Las Vegas. Bankers start getting a cold feeling, like these guys don't know what they're doing," Climo said. "There is a dilemma you're going to have with a pro forma -- skepticism in marketing."

When Donald Trump came to Las Vegas and announced prices starting at $1,000 a square foot for units at Trump International, people thought it was simply because of his name. Climo said it's likelier that Trump knew the market would bear those prices.

The nuts and bolts of preparing a pro forma is making assumptions, which can be affected by market conditions and other factors, Climo said.

The pro forma includes soft costs such as land acquisition, commissions paid on the land, permits and fees, marketing and other preconstruction costs. Hard costs include construction, furnishings, parking and tenant improvement allowances for office and retail.

A sample pro forma that Climo put together for an actual high-rise project in Las Vegas showed $121.8 million for hard costs, $49.2 million in soft costs, total revenue of $224.8 million and net project operating income of $53.8 million. The return on investment was calculated at 31.5 percent and the internal rate of return was 23.4 percent. He said pro formas are tweaked along the way.

John Riordan, vice president of sales for Turnberry Place, said Turnberry Associates spent about $4 million a year on marketing and advertising both locally and nationally when the luxury condo project was announced in 1998.

"People didn't know us and they didn't know our product," he said. "First of all, you determine what marketplace you want to reach. We're basically at the top end of the market. We're looking for an affluent market outside of the region, second home buyers. In Miami, we're looking in the Northeast. In Las Vegas, we're looking at California and Texas."

Demand is strong for high-rise living in Las Vegas, both from local residents who are tired of living in large custom homes and are looking to "lock and leave" and from other mature high-rise markets, Kathleen Ray, owner and broker at Subdivision Sales, said at the Lorman seminar.

"We're going to become a high-rise city. Think about Detroit and Chicago. Why will people come to Vegas? This is a 24-hour city, real estate, the weather. We're not used to high-rise living, but it's very exciting," Ray said. "It's all about the lifestyle, the amenities. What are you going to do for me? I want to go to the pool. I want to work out in the fitness center at night. A business center is really important and I think it's something that's missing in high-rises. People want to work from home."

When Turnberry Place was built, people wondered who the buyers would be and where are they, Ray said. "They're not here yet. They're comin' around the mountain."








Find this article at:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/May-24-Wed-2006/business/7577598.html

[Reverie]

Citycenter

http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/4852/467sp.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[ukmichael27]

Now that we have cranes up, maybe its time to change the status of City Center to Under Construction from Proposed?

[vegasrain84]

I too share the excitement over CityCenter, this is my favorite project, and the largest most expensive planned project EVER in North America.


However, I'm not exactly sure what the cranes at CityCenter actually mean.. My guess is that they are doing site prep work.. Utility Relocation, drilling for underground parking structures and also for preparation to pour the foundations.. I personally would wait to change the status until A) we see a foundation being poured, or B) we see news that it has officially broken ground.. Also because of the size of this project we dont know all the details of how many towers it will include, how many phases are going under construction and which buildings are included in each phase.. Estimates range from 6 to 10 buildings in several stages.. Last I heard there were 3 stages, the first being the main hotel towers and the main entrance area.. Still have no idea what the final design is, and the official height puts the tallest building at I believe is 600 feet from the county planning commission.

Still a lot of details to be worked out, and I want to see a statement from MGM MIRAGE on the status of CityCenter, which I would assume will be coming out within a couple of days to a couple of weeks..

[vegasrain84]

New Photos from VegasTodayandTomorrow:

[Reverie]

MGM Signature

http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/3378/451vs.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[solstadwest]

Why is the dirt not moving yet?! Didn't they "breakground" months and months ago? I see all these great shots of the cosmo but nothing has changed. They have five floors to remove! where are the dump trucks? Are they blowing hot air at us? I do have a unit and with the current environment I'm gett'n a little concerned.

[GeorgeLV]

Why is the dirt not moving yet?! Didn't they "breakground" months and months ago? I see all these great shots of the cosmo but nothing has changed. They have five floors to remove! where are the dump trucks? Are they blowing hot air at us? I do have a unit and with the current environment I'm gett'n a little concerned.

Are you looking at the same pictures as the rest of us? http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=2075862&postcount=275

That an awful lot of equipment on site to be "blowing hot air". The fact is they can't just go in and dig a hole, utilities need to be relocated, soil testing needs to be done, etc, etc.

[Reverie]

Another Town Square


Queensridge brings taste of city to suburb

By Jennifer Shubinksi / Staff Writer

http://www.inbusinesslasvegas.com/2006/05/26/images/queensridge.jpg
Model of The Village at Queensridge

Conference attendees admire a model of The Village at Queensridge, as its designers and developers discuss the project at the International Council of Shopping Centers convention at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Wednesday.
Tiffany Brown

After taking on the luxury suburban high-rise market, Executive Home Builders is planning an $850 million mixed-use development near Summerlin.

The Village at Queensridge, at Rampart Boulevard and Alta Drive, will total 700,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and office space, as well as 340 condominiums on 29 acres.

Executive Home Builders broke ground on the infrastructure in November, with a scheduled completion date of the entire project in 2008.

"It's distinct - we're bringing the city to Las Vegas," said Eli Applebaum, executive vice president of Executive Home Builders. "This will be a true gathering place for people."

Executive Home Builders is now under construction with its One Queensridge Place, a condominium development across the street from the planned Village, with units priced between $1.3 million to $20 million.

Pitching the ambitious Village at Queensridge project to the commercial real estate community was in full swing this week during the International Council of Shopping Centers convention. While the project has been talked about in the past, this was the first time the huge model had been shown publicly and an exact breakdown on the scope of the project has been given.

There will be 18 separate buildings, of which there will be two 5-story condominium buildings and a 10-story condominium tower. An additional 42 condominiums will be built in the heart of the village above retail space. The project is approved for a total of 340 condominums.

"At end of the day we might have a few less by virtue of the final design," said Frank Pankratz, president of Executive Home Builders.

While sales haven't started, interest has been strong, Pankratz said. Reservations are expected to begin late this summer.

Of the total building space being developed, there will be 250,000 square feet of office space, another 350,000 square feet of retail space and 100,000 square feet devoted to restaurants. There will be some surface parking, but the majority will be below ground.

No tenants were announced during ICSC.

The project is being built on one of the last remaining infill pieces of land in Peccole Ranch. It is near Boca Park and other higher-end retail stores that serve the neighborhood and Summerlin.

Applebaum said the proximity of existing retail to the project, and the planned Summerlin Centre, will not hurt his development.

He said the immediate area's demographics - some of the highest in the valley - along with the overall growing number of wealthy people in Southern Nevada, only creates more demand.

"There's enough to go around," Applebaum said.

What Applebaum and his partners are hoping to develop is a project that stands the test of time and creates a place where people want to be.

The architecture for the Village at Queensridge will be built around an old-European town that has aged and grown over the years. The project includes buildings that are reminiscent of coliseums and Spanish villages. "Ruins" also will be incorporated into the site along with statues and stonework.

Guillermo Lopez, vice president of the Development Design Group Inc., described the project as "eclectic."

"The tiles, the colors, everything will bring about the charm of an old town of Europe," he said.

Development Design Group, along with JMA Architecture Studios, designed the project.

Mixed-use projects and how to design them, where to build them and their evolution were some of the topics of discussion at numerous sessions at ICSC this week.

"It's about creating value, of creating a place that people want to stroll through, sit on a bench and be outdoors," said Chuck Stilley president of Kansas City-based AMC Realty Inc., during one of the panel discussions.

Ian Thomas, ICSC trustee and chairman of Thomas Consultants Inc., said true mixed use, one that incorporates retail, office and residential is a morphing of ideas and a blurring of uses.

The evolution of mixed-use centers really began as lifestyle centers, a grouping of upscale stores, located near affluent neighborhoods. According to ICSC, they have to be open air and include at least one tenant that takes up 50,000 square feet to space.

Over time, the popularity of these types of centers, among shoppers, retailers and developers evolved into much more complicated developments that includes residential and office, in addition to the high-end retailers.

One of the newest types of mixed-use centers to emerge is the "urban grid" - large projects in either urban or suburban locations that attempt to create the feeling of an urban city.

"We are studying this very carefully; the scale is bigger, there is so much energy but yet it is so quaint and peaceful," said Josh Poag, chief financial officer of Memphis, Tenn.-based Poag & McEwe Lifestyle Centers LLC.

One thing is clear to industry experts - mixed-use is here to stay and is especially evident in the Las Vegas Valley.

In addition to the Village at Queensridge, Town Square (a Turnberry Associates, Centra joint venture) is under construction at the intersections of Interstates 15 and 215 and Las Vegas Boulevard.

Other projects, such as the Curve in the southwest Las Vegas Valley, have had to suspend sales of residential units and step back to reassess their plans.
Jennifer Shubinski covers real estate and development for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-8832 or by e-mail at js@lasvegassun.com.

[JonVegas]

Ok, I like the model for LV central but the original renderings were far too cool not to be dissapointed by the new design.

[MsuMix]

I too share the excitement over CityCenter, this is my favorite project, and the largest most expensive planned project EVER in North America.


However, I'm not exactly sure what the cranes at CityCenter actually mean.. My guess is that they are doing site prep work.. Utility Relocation, drilling for underground parking structures and also for preparation to pour the foundations.. I personally would wait to change the status until A) we see a foundation being poured, or B) we see news that it has officially broken ground.. Also because of the size of this project we dont know all the details of how many towers it will include, how many phases are going under construction and which buildings are included in each phase.. Estimates range from 6 to 10 buildings in several stages.. Last I heard there were 3 stages, the first being the main hotel towers and the main entrance area.. Still have no idea what the final design is, and the official height puts the tallest building at I believe is 600 feet from the county planning commission.

Still a lot of details to be worked out, and I want to see a statement from MGM MIRAGE on the status of CityCenter, which I would assume will be coming out within a couple of days to a couple of weeks..


The site is separated into 3 blocks; A,B,C, The project is officially still in 'preconstruction' as many drawings aren't finalized.

[future29]

Designing for Dough
Matthew Miller, 06.05.06
Forbes.com

http://home.comcast.net/~wam929/chips/montreaux.jpg
Casino bosses want you to gamble plenty and spread your bucks around their shops, shows and suites. The Soon-to-be-built Montreaux resort on the Vegas strip is designed to max out dollars spent by each visitor.

Separating gamblers from their money has become more science than art.

Architect Paul Steelman can't wait for the detonator charges to go off. In December Steelman's employer, billionaire Phillip Ruffin, will implode the dark and dirty New Frontier casino in Las Vegas to make way for a monster replacement Steelman is designing. Called the Montreux, due to open in early 2009, it's a 2,750-room Swiss-lakefront-themed hotel with a 104,000-square-foot casino, a massive shopping mall, an array of restaurants, bars and nightclubs, and a 465-foot-tall observation wheel, similar to the London Eye, that scoops riders from the floor above the casino.

Ruffin bought the New Frontier for $325 million in 1998. Today it's worth perhaps $1 billion, but the 41-acre property makes only $18 million in annual operating cash flow, one of the lousiest performers in town. Steve Wynn's new place across the street made $293 million in the 11 months after it opened in April 2005.

With dreams of drawing the free-spending masses his neighbor attracts, Ruffin hired Steelman as his architect in 2004. Steelman is wiser than most when it comes to the logistics of moving gamblers through sin dens.

He worked on Wynn's Mirage (MGM: NYSE - news - people ), which, when it opened in 1989, became the first Strip hotel to emphasize eating and entertainment as well as crap tables. Steelman brought American casino innovations to Asia in 2004 with the Sands Macao, a $240 million project that went from blueprint to opening in 600 days. That casino made back owner Sheldon Adelson's entire investment in its first year, thanks in part to Steelman's bright, airy design.

Steelman has, over the last 20 years, come up with 70-odd design rules to keep visitors in a gleeful state as they evenly spread their dollars among betting tables, shops, theaters and restaurants. His Paul Steelman Design Group made $35 million in sales last year designing or refurbishing 50 casino projects around the world. Owners come to him for a philosophy that blends a feel for how to appeal to people's baser instincts with psychologist Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs. "Confusion creates worry," Steelman says. "Worry creates doubt. Doubt brings less empowerment. The less empowered gambler won't spend much." Mirrors are bad, too. They can shatter the illusion that you're James Bond.

Back in the heyday of the Flamingo, Tropicana and Desert Inn, moguls enticed gamblers with free rooms and cheap buffets--and then left them isolated at tables with no distractions. The casinos were dark, cluttered and hard to get out of. Keep a customer stuck, the thinking went, and he'll play until he's out of money. Gambling made up more than 90% of revenue.

Now most new Vegas Strip resorts earn more than half of revenue from nongambling activities: shops, theaters, restaurants and trade shows. With Montreux Steelman plans to push the noncasino receipts even higher. The Montreux casino floor will represent only 2% of the resort's area, retail 9%. (Most space will go to hotel rooms.)

The Montreux's casino and retail zones will dovetail to induce visitors to gamble, take a short two-minute walk, perhaps have a drink at a bar, then start spending again in the shops. The retail area will open right onto the Strip in order to encourage walk-in traffic. That is rather ordinary anywhere else in the country but something of a novel idea in Las Vegas.

Steelman has also designed a sleek ballroom that can be transformed in under two hours. Hold a fashion show in the morning, a poker tournament in the afternoon and a boxing match at night. The ideal length for any spectacle in a casino is less than 90 minutes--otherwise, he says, "you are dipping into time people would use spending money in other parts of the casino."

Ruffin plans to build Montreux on the cheap side, "cheap" being a relative term in Vegas, budgeting $1.9 billion for construction, compared with Wynn Las Vegas' $2.7 billion. Ruffin is raising $400 million from bonds, $1.5 billion from bank loans. No equity for the public. Steelman came up with a plan to use only 85 types of building materials. Every door, wall and piece of molding will be similar throughout.

Ruffin also wants to price his hotel rooms at $200 a night, 30% lower than Wynn's average room rate, but still generate a similar or better return on his investment as the Wynn. Ruffin forecasts $290 million a year in pretax profits after Montreux opens. At that rate he'll be earning 15% annually. The Wynn returned 11% in its first 11 months.

Steelman's next designs to go up will be the Four Seasons hotel adjacent to Adelson's new Venetian Macao, and a new resort at Connecticut's Foxwoods, already the largest casino in the world.


http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/0605/062a.html

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[ukmichael27]

Great plan for the Montreux, though the main tower looks like a tall version of the Bellagio

[LMich]

Yeah, they really have to start getting more original. It looks a lot like the Bellagio, and even a bit like the Palazzo in massing and the base.

[Reverie]

While we all love new resorts, and hope they build this, the design is rather mundane. The tower is many have said looks to Bellagioish, but what bothers me more is the base. Maybe they could have put a bigger courtyard area (like fashion show mall's) for tourists to mingle around in instead of what seems to be just lining the street front with a straight line of shops.

I hope the Ferris Wheel will make up for this.

Interior is nice however.

Now for something that for you guys will be no surprise...

Las Ramblas is Dead


Related's Las Ramblas project is kaput
Talks concerning real estate are heating up with W Hotel co-developer
BY TONY ILLIA
BUSINESS PRESS

Rumors have plagued Las Ramblas, the celebrity-backed mega-project along the Harmon Corridor, ever since it was first announced 10 months ago. More recently, speculation about the project's future has become a popular parlor game at local happy hours and dinner parties. Alas, it now appears that the ambitious $3 billion hotel-condo-casino complex is all but dead.

Developers Related Las Vegas and Centra Properties are reportedly in talks to sell the project's real estate for an unspecified price. The deal is expected to close within the next two weeks. The 25-acre site is located along Harmon Avenue, between Paradise and Koval roads, just west of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Centra, a project partner, spent $85 million assembling the various parcels of land that included the 996-unit Harbor Island apartments and 14 surrounding quadplexes, totaling 56 units. The deal took 14 months to complete at a cost of $3.4 million per acre. But that was more than a year ago. The site today could sell for significantly more. The Hard Rock, for example, recently sold for $770 million, or $19.2 million an acre, to Morgans Hotel Group.
When it first went on the drawing board, Las Ramblas was a "can't-miss" condo project. Ten months later, it's nothing but a memory.

The buyer is likely The Edge Group, say insiders. The firm is currently co-developing the $2.5 billion, 4,000-unit W Hotel, Casino & Residences at the northeast corner of Harmon and Koval, just west of the Las Ramblas site.

Edge Group spokeswoman Maggie Feldman refused comment on the possible purchase, but said, "We are big believers in the Harmon Corridor and its future."

IT HAD IT ALL

So what went wrong with Las Ramblas? It seemingly had it all: An experienced development team with Related and Centra; a glossy architectural design by Miami-based Arquitectonica; splashy interiors from Philippe Starck; and a celebrity backer in movie star George Clooney, who was a project investor at one point. Rande Gerber, meanwhile, was tapped to design and operate a series of nightclubs, restaurants and lounges inside the development. Plans called for 4,400 hotel, condo and condo-hotel units in 11 high-rise towers, with a 40,000-square-foot casino, shops, a spa and various eateries.

But Las Ramblas was too big and costly, and came at a time when rival projects were being planned nearby, say industry observers. Condo buyers have also since become more savvy about investing in high-rise projects. Last year's condo euphoria has worn off and many speculators have since left town, leaving fewer, albeit more serious, buyers.

"We cautioned our clients about the project from the very beginning," said Bruce Hiatt, owner of Luxury Realty Group, a high-rise real estate firm. "The Las Ramblas concept and idea was beautiful, but it was too dense with 11 towers sandwiched between Hard Rock and the W. And it had no views of the Strip."

Las Ramblas marks the third failed Vegas project by Related. The company's efforts as master-plan developer of downtown's Union Park and Icon Las Vegas similarly fizzled out, leaving its local future in doubt.

The project's miscues have surprised many considering Related's high profile as a national real estate player, with such projects as Manhattan's $2.2 billion Time Warner Center and the 72-acre CityPlace in West Palm Beach, Fla., to its credit. Its foray into the Las Vegas market suggested a new level of local development maturity.

OVERLY CONFIDENT

Yet, Related may have been overly cocksure of its ability to wheel and deal in Las Vegas, foregoing the market studies and due diligence most developers undertake before entering a new market. Las Vegas is still considered a small real estate market in national terms, despite its rapid growth. Related, by contrast, is jointly headquartered in Miami and New York, two major metropolitan cities where it enjoys a high level of community influence and political power. It may have expected a similar reception in Las Vegas.

"The national perception is that Las Vegas is a third tier real estate market with unsophisticated developers and easy entry," said one industry observer. "Related came here overly confident of their experience and track record, and figured government officials would cater to them. They were going to show everyone how development was done, but they didn't do their homework."

Related first ran into trouble with downtown's Union Park. The firm was tapped as master-plan developer of the 61-acre parcel bound by Grand Central Parkway, Bonneville Avenue and the Union Pacific railroad tracks. After spending roughly $1.5 million pursuing the deal, including a $500,000 good-faith deposit, Related and the city called it off 10 months later. A jointly issued statement cited "skyrocketing construction costs, high land-sale prices and more competition throughout the Valley," as reasons for not being able to work together, but insiders say Related was trying to upstage Mayor Oscar Goodman as the project's developer -- a definite no-no. Goodman is downtown's top cheerleader. And he views the area's renaissance as his political legacy.

Related suffered its second blow last year with the cancellation of its Icon Las Vegas project on Convention Center Drive, just east of the Strip. Plans called for two, 48-story luxury condo towers combining for 514 units. Related, once again, blamed skyrocketing construction costs as reason for the cancellation. A lawsuit filed by Lorenzo Doumani, who planned a competing high-rise nearby, resulted in a six-month delay that caused a gulf between sale prices and construction costs.

CONSTRUCTION COST EXCUSE

"Blaming rising construction costs is the only excuse that is being used for high-rise cancellations. It worked well the first time, and everyone has used it since. It's only explanation that's being offered," said Rod Martin, vice president of Majestic Realty Co., a Las Vegas development firm. "Rising construction costs are nothing new. The increases have been occurring in the marketplace for some time. Experienced developers know better and budget the rate of inflation into the project."

Related may additionally suffer from internal conflicts over its entry into the Las Vegas market. Company Co-Chairman Jorge Perez has been less than enthusiastic about Related's presence in Las Vegas, placing him at odds with Marty Burger, the company Las Vegas division president, said sources. Related, as such, is currently "assessing" its future in Las Vegas, said the source.

"I think they came into the market as a big player from Miami and New York, and figured they could call all the shots," said one real estate observer. "But the casino industry is the big player in town. They may have miscalculated their influence and negotiating ability to broker better construction deals."

[Patrick]

ugh I really liked that project too ^ :(

can someone check the agendas and give a short review so I can add some info to the diagrams?

[drobar]

This hotel/casino is ugly. Let's hope this is going to be heavily redesigned. It is a complete rip off of the Bellagio. There is no originality in the design. :yuck:

[CHAPINM1]

What's the update on Trump? Last update I saw was in April and it appeared to be on the 11th floor. How far up is construction now? Thanks in advance! ;)

[The_Analyst]

Montreaux's design is pretty unoriginal. I imagine the designers called a few construction suppliers. The conversation went something like, "Hello, I am calling on behalf of Phil Ruffin and we were wondering if you have any building materials we could buy really cheap." And someone responded, "Uhhh, yeah, we got some old wall panels and fake columns and roof tiles and stuff leftover from the Bellagio job. They're just sittin in our supply yard gettin dusty. If you want 'em, you can have 'em." And so the design was born.

Seriously, though, one must admit that if he is going for the midwest mom and pops, the quasi-southern European beaux-arts design probably comes pretty close to what they consider a 'fancy' casino. They probably can't afford $300+ per night at Bellagio so under $200 a night at something that looks similar is probably smart. I'll be curious to see if they go with really cheap fake details or try for something a little better quality. The interior designs look a little more interesting though.