Sky Condos Las Vegas Are Dodging Higher Costs

Rising construction and Las Vegas land costs have created major obstacles for entry into the Las Vegas high-rise luxury condominium market, giving early projects such as Sky Las Vegas condos, SoHo Lofts, and Panorama Towers Las Vegas a clear advantage over newcomers, executives of two projects under construction said.

Anything built on or around the Las Vegas Strip is going to sell for $1,300 to $1,500 a square foot, some Las Vegas luxury real estate, said David Pourbaba, president of Sky Las Vegas luxury condos, which recently topped out construction of its 45-story tower next to Circus Circus.

At the end of the second quarter, there were 246 existing Las Vegas luxury condo units on the market for resale at an average price of $1.1 million, or $631 a square foot, local research firm Applied Analysis reported. Units sold during the quarter averaged $787,000, or $459 a foot.

A market snapshot shows 135 projects with 91,934 condos proposed for Las Vegas, including 2,321 existing units, 1,379 canceled units and 6,888 suspended units. About 13,500 are under construction and 16,286 are planned and pre-selling.

"From our perspective, it's nice to be on the front end of that wave," said Dusty Allen, managing member of the 275-unit Streamline Towers being built by Martin-Harris Construction at Las Vegas Boulevard and Ogden Avenue.

Of the 15,811 units proposed for downtown Las Vegas, about 900 are under construction, he estimated. They include Streamline, SoHo Lofts, Newport Lofts and Juhl Las Vegas.

Among the projects that have been announced for downtown but have yet to break ground are Club Renaissance, Sandhurst, Cielo Vista, Liberty Tower and Gateway Las Vegas.

"The price per square foot to build has gone up significantly," Allen said. "Fortunately, we were able to lock in our construction prices early and provide a price-per-square-foot basis lower than $600. We still have some units priced under $500 a square foot."

Pourbaba estimated that hard costs for construction of Sky Las Vegas, with M.J. Dean as general contractor, have risen 8 percent to 10 percent to about $200 million.

Location, branding and experience remain keys to success, Gordon said. Projects announced by major operators and development companies are likely to enter the market with greater success.

Nearly 40,000 units in the pipeline are categorized as the hybrid condo-hotel and maintain some sort of rental program. About 70 percent are located around the Strip, including The Signature MGM Residences, Platinum, Las Vegas Project CityCenter and Cosmopolitan Condos.

Source: LV Review Journal

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Luxury condos in Las Vegas are dodging higher construction costs.