The sky is no limit to Milam
Air Force, FAA objections won't fell tower project, developer says
BY DAVID MCKEE
Austin-based developer Christopher Milam is thinking big. Texas-sized big, as in erecting the tallest building in the U.S. on the former site of the Wet 'n Wild aquatic park. Virtually the entire 27-acre parcel would be consumed by the casino "podium," as envisioned by Steelman Design Group, from which will arise a 142-story spire. Modeled on Skidmore Owings & Merrill's Burj Dubai skyscraper, this obelisk will top out at 1,888 feet ... a height that is presently sticking in the craws of Nellis Air Force Base and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Despite the opposition arrayed against him, not to mention the inherent challenge of building a $4.8 billion, 5,000-unit, condo-hotel resort, Milam seems serene -- sufficiently so to balance playing with his toddler while discussing a technical challenge that might faze even a character like Howard Roark of The Fountainhead.
Given the amount of construction tied up by Project CityCenter, how long will it be before you can line up a substantial quantity of materials and labor?
Courtesy LVT1
As conceived by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Steelman Design Group, the Las Vegas Tower's casino floor, commercial spaces and parking garage would cover almost the entirety of the former Wet 'n Wild site. Above it would rise an 1,888-foot skyscraper. At present, the tallest hotel tower on the Strip is Wynn Las Vegas, at 600 feet. The Venetian's Palazzo tower, when finished, will reach 642 feet.
Courtesy LVT1
Courtesy LVT1
That's evolved a lot in the last six months. Projects which were going to get done didn't get done. Availability of labor and materials, while still tight, it's not a constricting issue the way people thought it was going to be. Plus the cost of commodities is falling. We're not, in the last six to nine months, seeing anything like the increases in prices -- steel, cement, glass -- that we were in the past. Which would make a lot of sense, because the heat is out of the property markets now and construction is down considerably.
What's the design concept?
It basically has three legs and it happens to be, from a structural-engineering perspective, the most efficient tall-building form. As long as you maintain a proper aspect ratio with those three legs, you can basically go as tall as you want. Burj Dubai is much taller than this building but this is considerably larger in mass.
Why did you gravitate to that particular design?
We wanted to do a tall building, which meant we had to be north of the Strip, far enough away from McCarran. Everything in Las Vegas has its 'set' and, in the past, that has been a theme: You're in Paris or Venice or Greece. We wanted to do real architecture, what we call a 'high modern,' important architectural statement. In a very basic business sense, I guess you could say that the tallness of the building is our thing. It's our hook, if you will. It's the next step beyond in the evolution of the Strip.
The underlying property is still titled to Archon. When is the sale going to close?
The option, we have until sometime in October of '07 to close. So sometime between now and then, when we are ready to start construction.
If you were to run into adversity as far as the design, would you not go through with the purchase?
No, it's a tremendous asset. There are always issues, no matter what you're doing. If you want to be successful at development, you spend the time, the effort and the money to work through the issues and come up with something that works for everyone.
As far as the height itself, Nellis AFB registers objections to the project as submitted. Also, the FAA says it's notified you of a "presumed hazard." Given those objections, how do you intend to move forward?
Those are two separate issues and we are working with both the FAA and Nellis, and have been for some months. With respect to Nellis, they have a general policy of opposing tall buildings, for obvious reasons, but it's an issue that can be resolved.
As far as the FAA is concerned, any building over 200 feet tall within a five-mile radius of McCarran is determined by regulation to be a hazard to air navigation. So every hotel on the Strip is a Part 77 obstruction, technically. That's why they issued the DNH. Everybody gets issued a DNH. We're in the middle of the process to determine if the building does present a hazard and -- if it does -- how to make it not. We have a consultant in Washington who's working directly with the FAA.
So you're taking it to the top?
No, we're actually working from the bottom up, which is the way you do it. But we haven't yet responded to the obstruction finding because we're doing our homework and then we'll respond formally to the FAA.
So is the 1,888-foot height non-negotiable?
We think that will ultimately be found to not be a hazard and that's where we wanted to be. The reason is that makes it the tallest building in the U.S. The next-tallest building is the Freedom Tower in New York, which was World Trade (Center), which is 1,776 (feet). They're locked into that number for obvious reasons. You don't build a building this tall and make it a little shorter than the one they just built. That's not a good approach to marketing, if you will.
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