Strong Words from Las Vegas Condo Developer Regarding Mid-Rise Competitor's Cancellation

Today's Las Vegas Review Journal reported on a story that many in the Las Vegas high rise condo realm (and especially readers of this blog) have known for quite some time: namely, the demise of the Light Group's Spa Lofts condo project, a 147 unit condo development planned at Rainbow and the 215. (That's what's great about blogs nowadays - they break the news and the mainstream media follow their leads!)

Anyway, here's what a competing mid-rise condo developer, ManhattanWest's CEO Alex Edelstein, had to say regarding Spa Loft's cancellation:

"Spa Lofts is getting canned because it doesn't have any buyers and it doesn't have any buyers because ManhattanWest is taking all of them... We drove SpaLofts out of business."

Wow... those are pretty strong words.

But in fairness to Spa Lofts, perhaps this project is being cancelled so the Light Group can devote more energy towards their development of the Harmon Residences at the fabulous MGM-Mirage's CityCenter high rise condo project. The Light Group has a humongous database of investors and buyers to draw from and when faced with the option of developing either Spa Lofts, or an incredibly prestigious real estate opportunity that's a unique world renowned opportunity, I'm taking CityCenter.

And in fairness to Mr. Edelstein, his ManhattanWest project has been one of only a handful of logical alternatives to high rise condo Strip city life that's been very successful to date. (and maybe even considered a bargain in fact!) So maybe they did take buyers away from Spa Lofts.

So what does this all mean? It means the Las Vegas condo market is certainly more interesting, controversial, and unpredictable than anything you'll see on any TV reality or game show.