A model of Sky Las Vegas' planned 45-story luxury high-rise is on display at the company's sales office on the 3-acre site on the Strip near Circus Circus where the project will begin construction next month. Photo by K.M. Cannon.
Heavy construction equipment is being moved onto the 3-acre site of Sky Las Vegas, the 45-story luxury condominium planned for the Strip near Circus Circus hotel, and groundbreaking is scheduled for early May, the developer said Thursday.
A construction fence is wrapped with a mural of the $325 million project, a sales center is open and the process of lowering the water table to facilitate subterranean parking has begun.
Sky Las Vegas will start construction less than nine months after it was announced and is scheduled for completion in late 2006, said Aaron Yashouafar, developer and chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based Milbank Real Estate Services. The general contractor is M.J. Dean.
Yashouafar said buyers at Sky Las Vegas are "very pleased to see the quick progress we are making on the project."
He said the 405-unit tower is 75 percent sold, including four penthouse suites, and $204 million in construction financing has been secured from East Coast institutional lenders.
"Of course, Las Vegas is not proven territory for lenders on high-rises," Yashouafar said. "Location is the most important issue for lenders, if they're financing a project in the right location."
David Pourbaba, a Los Angeles investor and partner in Sky Las Vegas, said he was surprised at how easy it was to get building permits and entitlements for the project compared with other places such as California.
"They actually look forward to working with developers," he said.
Priced from $400,000 to more than $4 million, Sky Las Vegas condos feature luxury upgrades such as side-by-side subzero refrigeration, stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, marble or hardwood flooring and jacuzzi tubs in the bathrooms. Common amenities include an acre of pool and garden area, a social room, spa and fitness center, business center, private screening room, billiards room with bar, valet parking, concierge services and 24-hour security.
The top 10 floors of Sky Las Vegas offer suites from about 1,180 to 2,000 square feet, priced from $650,000 to $1.5 million. SkySuites, on the 43rd through 45th floors, are priced at about $4 million. In addition to advantageous views, those suites have a private elevator and outdoor and rooftop patios.
Pourbaba said all of the new high-rise inventory coming on the market in Las Vegas has to be sold at $900 to $1,000 a square foot to cover land and construction costs.
RETAIL CENTER: Construction has begun for Shadow Mountain Marketplace, a joint venture between Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Wynmark Development and Laguna Pacific Development, at Interstate 215 and Decatur Boulevard in North Las Vegas.
The shopping center at the entrance to the master-planned Aliante community will be anchored by a 148,000-square-foot Costco, which is scheduled to open in September. The center also has two freestanding restaurant pads, a fast-food pad, a bank pad and seven retail spaces ranging from 10,000 to 35,000 square feet.
