Saturday, April 23, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JANE ANN MORRISON: Ahh, to dream of living with the high rollers ... errr ... risers

The fantasy home-buying mission: What's available on the market for a million bucks in a Las Vegas high-rise? Not something planned, but something standing.

Despite all the buzz about Las Vegas becoming a high-rise heaven with about 70 projects in the works (the number seems to go up and down as often as the Stratosphere's Big Shot), the choices in something actually built are limited to three: Regency Towers, Park Towers and Turnberry Place.

Regency Towers is the grande dame of high-rise condos in Las Vegas, the first and oldest and nestled within the Las Vegas Country Club. Park Towers is 5 years old, just 84 units and carries the distinctive address 1 Hughes Center Drive. Turnberry Place along Paradise Road is 4 years old with about 800 units and new towers under construction.

"Can you increase your budget?" one friend asked, leaving me to fear that the high-rise in my imaginary future might be like a New York hotel with a view of a brick wall. Now as someone who in my younger years thought having a $100,000 home meant you were rich, I thought $1 million should have been adequate.

But I needed $1.25 million to buy even the cheapest and smallest unit at Park Towers, and that put me on the lowest residential floor, the third floor of the 20-floor tower.

The $1.25 million would buy a 2,055-square-foot condo, two bedrooms, two baths, 10-foot ceilings and 8-foot doors and plenty of upgrades. The view (and it's all about the view) would have included the Strip from Paris Las Vegas to the Stratosphere, with the new Wynn Las Vegas and Bellagio dead ahead. The Las Vegas Strip could be seen from the living room, master bedroom, kitchen and guest bedroom. But I'd have to live without a balcony.

Once I paid my $1.25 million and then homeowner association dues of not quite $2,000 a month for this size unit, my life would advance into the world of gentility and elegance.

It's all about the amenities.

My wine locker inside Cave de Cluny Wine Cellar would protect my wine, and I could have parties there if I liked. I could read all the major daily newspapers and magazines in the library. I could use the spa and look out over the rose arbor. My tennis game might improve. The gym might see my business. And the 14-seat movie theater with leather loungers would be my place of refuge.

And the neighbors wouldn't be half bad. Media matriarch Barbara Greenspun is a classy lady. Irwin Molasky, who built Park Towers and lives in the penthouse, would be in my 'hood.

At Turnberry Place, there were resale units available as low as $850,000 and as high as $9 million.

But for not quite $1.2 million, I would be on the 22nd floor of the 39-story tower, and I'd have a great balcony. I'd just look past that view of the Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Center parking lot to see the Strip and the mountains.

The 2,050-square-foot condo included two bedrooms and two baths and a powder room, and my homeowner fees would be $1,003 for that unit. There was even a place for the cat box.

Rita Rudner would be in the 'hood. There were amenities galore, including the elegant Stirling Club, frequented by actor James Caan.

For me, Park Towers seemed right. The folks always said get the cheapest house in the nicest neighborhood and maybe I could save a few bucks with Park Towers' no tipping policy.

The clincher: A record-breaking purchase at Park Towers recently by Tim Poster, the Las Vegas boy turned Internet travel guru, turned Golden Nugget buyer, turned Golden Nugget seller (and he's not yet 40).

In a $10.5 million deal, Poster traded up the unit he already had there and added $9 million to the pot, and he's now the owner of a two-story penthouse with more than 7,000 square feet. It's all about the spaciousness.

His $1,530 per square foot makes his the highest per-square-foot residential sale in Clark County to date, said Cindy DellaValle of the Sunshine Group, who handles Park Towers resales.

For his $10.5 million, Poster gets a fine balcony, too.

I suggest you not figure out your home's per square foot cost. When I came up with $88, the reality soured my fantasy shopping trip. It's all about the price.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.