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Friday, April 20, 2007

Hold your High Rises!

I received a call the other day from a high rise condo investor who posed an interesting question: "I'm not sure whether I should just sell my unit or get out of my contract completely. What do you think makes most sense?"

Perhaps it's a good time to reiterate my thoughts to the masses on high rise condo hotel investing in Las Vegas. In my opinion, investors should not be thinking "flip" when they make the decision to purchase a high rise condo unit. There are very few projects in town right now that the "buy and flip at closing" strategy makes sense. For starters, the Las Vegas high rise marketplace is so new, there are no historical guidelines to go by to determine what high rises will sell for in the short-term. That being said, for the investor who makes a decision to purchase and hold for a few years, high rise investing in Las Vegas could prove to be quite lucrative.

Remember that just about every high rise project in town will require you to close. Assigning your unit before closing probably won't happen (unless you cut a personal deal with the developer). Getting back to the original question, the purchaser's contract went hard (meaning they signed a contract and put down the required downpayment) hoping to see the preconstruction real estate appreciate in the short term to flip at contract time. Well, that's probably not going to happen - but as I maintained, closing on the deal and holding the unit for 2 to 3 years would probably result in a very happy outcome.

Think long term in a quality project to see results. Right now, I can't stress enough the potential of CityCenter and Juhl. For you heavy hitters out there, go CityCenter... for the smaller investor, get into Juhl. If you can hold onto your purchase for 2 years or more and I'm right, you won't need me to tell you what makes the most sense.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Australian Firm Buys Into The Fountainbleau High Rise Condo Hotel Project on the Las Vegas Strip

Will the $2.8 billion dollar Fountainbleau high rise project in Las Vegas ever get moving and eventually get built? It might, now that Australia's largest gaming operator just bought a 20% stake in the development. Publishing & Broadcasting Ltd, owned by James Packer will now be a partner with Fountainbleau Resorts (aka Turnberry) in the development of the proposed 63-story hotel casino, comprised of 3,889 hotel rooms and high rise condo hotel units.

The developer says the project will open in the fall of 2009, but that seems like a very ambitious timeframe. However, a lot can happen when you bring $250,000 million dollars to the table... We'll keep an eye out on the progress of this development.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Beam Me Up - The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas High Rise Condo Hotel Project Moves Forward

Purchasers of units in the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas high rise condo hotel project can breathe a sigh of relief now that the first 50-foot high steel beam has been placed on the project. Japan-based steel manufacturer JFE Engineering performed the "ceremony", as placing the steel beam is part of a construction tradition in Japan, designed to ask the local god to make the building sturdy and safe and ensure happiness for the project.

The event also included a burying of a time capsule containing engineering drawings signed by Cosmo developer Bruce Eichner and the construction partners.

The 8 acre Cosmopolitan site will connect with Project CityCenter on the second floor with a pedestrian bridge over Harmon Avenue. Scheduled to open in late 2009, The $3 billion dollar Cosmopolitan project vision is for two 600-foot towers containing 3,000 condotel units along with a 75,000 square foot casino with 150,000 square feet of convention space, restaurants, shops, and a spa.

At this point, 2,000 condominium units are 90 percent sold with a total sales volume of $1.9 billion. Grand Hyatt will manage the condominium rental program while the Hyatt Corp. will manage convention space. The Cosmopolitan itself will manage the hotel and casino.

The owner, general contractor, architect, executive architect, and designers on this project are all top-notch. Let's hope that steel beam ceremony prayer takes and you'll have plenty of happy unit owners in this impressive venture for those who can handle the hefty pricetag.