Monday, October 27, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Plans for development advance
Clark County Commission grants approval to largest ever SID
By HUBBLE SMITH
REVIEW-JOURNAL
John Ritter of Focus Property Group, center, reacts after making the winning bid in a Bureau of Land Management land auction last November. Focus has closed escrow on the purchase of more than 850 acres in northwest Las Vegas, including 500 acres from the bureau.
Photo by JERRY HENKEL / REVIEW-JOURNAL FILE PHOTO
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Focus Property Group has spent $347 million in the past eight months completing its land purchases and filing development plans for two master-planned communities.
Focus closed escrow Oct. 17 on the purchase of more than 850 acres in the northwest Las Vegas Valley, including 500 acres from the Bureau of Land Management.
Cliff's Edge, near Interstate 215 and Hualapai Way, has placed more than $90 million in escrow for payment to the BLM. That's in addition to the $23 million paid at the June 5 auction.
The closing culminates a $100 million financing package for Focus involving 10 lenders and the sale of more than 250 acres of land in Cliff's Edge to home builders.
About 80 percent of Cliff's Edge residential land has been sold or is under contract.
Builders include Perma-Bilt Homes, Woodside Homes, Pardee Homes, Lennar (Greystone and US Home Corp.), Beazer Homes, Toll Brothers, Kimball Hill Homes, R/S Development and Chartered Development Co. The first models are expected to open in May 2005.
On Tuesday, Clark County Commission approved a $92.3 million SID, or Special Improvement District, which is a financing mechanism for infrastructure and public improvements to Focus's Mountain's Edge development in the southwest valley.
It's the largest SID ever approved by the county, said John Ritter, chief executive officer of Focus.
Ritter bid $160,000 an acre for Mountain's Edge a year ago and raised the bar on land prices to $230,000 an acre in the June BLM auction for Cliff's Edge.
Market observers say the price could reach $300,000 an acre for 2,700 acres offered at the Nov. 6 auction to be held at Sam's Town. It was appraised at $132,000 an acre.
Ritter said he's "running the numbers and sharpening my pencil" in preparation for bidding, which would be against a powerful financial partnership between American Nevada Corp. and Del Webb.
Garry Goett, developer of Southern Highlands and a serious bidder at past BLM auctions, could be part of that group or may be putting together his own investors.
"We definitely think it's a fair appraisal," Ritter said. "I don't see it at $300,000 (an acre). The market can't continue to jump up like that. We're pushing the edge of the envelope today."
RESORTS FOR SALE: North Las Vegas-based time share operator Sunterra Corp. has been mentioned by an industry source as a possible buyer of two resorts owned by bankrupt Leisure Industries Corp. of Las Vegas.
The Steamboat Pilot in Colorado reported that the 77-suite Leisure Resorts Hilltop and 60-suite Leisure Resorts Steamboat are expected to be sold by the end of the month.
Earlier this month, Sunterra paid $25 million to acquire the assets of Epic Resorts, another bankrupt time share company with a presence in Las Vegas.
Sunterra itself emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2002, shortly after it relocated here from Orlando, Fla.
In its latest quarterly SEC filing, the company showed net income of $5.8 million for the second quarter, compared with losses of $6.1 million in the previous quarter and $14 million a year ago.
Somebody's also making a bid to acquire California-based Monarch Grand Vacations, which owns a large time share property on Las Vegas Boulevard South, the source said.
CONTRACT AWARD: Southwest Engineering has been awarded a $33.2 million engineering and survey contract for Richardson Mini-Storage on 1.65 acres near Cheyenne Avenue and Simmons Street in North Las Vegas. David Moran is project manager.
TRAFFIC CENTER: Target General has begun construction on the integrated Freeway Arterial System of Transportation traffic management center on Decatur Boulevard, just off Interstate 215. It will be operated by the Nevada Department of Transportation and Nevada Highway Patrol.
