Journalism Aside, It's a Healthy Las Vegas High Rise Condo Market if You're in the Right Place

Welcome to 2006! Let's start the year off with this dozy published last Saturday from the New York Post entitled "Losing Las Vegas"

"Last week we reported on George Clooney's and Ivana Trump's troubled Las Vegas condo projects. And now it looks like those developments were just the tip of the iffy iceberg. According to the detailed market report released on PR Web on Thursday, several developments in Sin City have either cropped out or are in jeopardy including Michael Jordan's Aqua Blue... Meanwhile a staggering 23 projects, comprising more than 20,000 units are close to completion. Another 11 planned places are on respirators, and another six are already dead. Why do we care so much about Vegas? Experts say that it could become the first major city to experience a true real-estate bubble burst, which in turn, could fuel a panic across the nation."

Meanwhile, I came across this post as well at Planetizen.com:

"Las Vegas, NV, the fastest-growing regions in the nation, is facing big-city problems. Dependent on tourism, it faces a slowing economy. And the city is losing its unique character."

Of course, the above quote was published in September of 2001! - and we all know the growth Vegas has experienced since then. The point is people just love to write about gloom and doom, and we see it all the time in the high rise world with article after article about how not all highrises will be built, the market's not good, Vegas won't be able to absorb all these units, etc.

Talk to the Turnberry people about high rises not being built. They're quite good at it. Talk to the people who've already bought into the Residences at MGM and ask them if their units have appreciated much (you bet they have!). And talk to the planners of the $1.5 billion Project CityCenter and see if they think they'll be an absorption problem in the upcoming years.

It's amazing how so many "industry experts" point to projects that had no realistic chance of ever succeeding as proof of a bad high rise market. We all know Ivana never had a chance... and isn't George Clooney an actor? Didn't Michael Jordan play basketball?

When someone can show me proof that the MGM or Turnberry projects aren't good investments, then I'll believe all the negative journalistic spin with respect to the Las Vegas high rise condo market. In the meantime, I'm not placing any bets on a bubble burst in Vegas just yet.