A crane is set up to work on the first of three towers at the Spanish View Towers in January. One couple is now asking for their deposit of $219,000 on the project to be refunded. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

Some owners at Spanish View Towers high-rise condominium in southwest Las Vegas Valley are getting antsy as construction of the $800 million project has been halted for the past three weeks.

A couple who asked not to be identified said they want their $219,000 deposit returned after being told their million-dollar unit would not be finished until August 2007. When they bought in May 2005, the completion date was set for this month.

"We just want out," the owner said. "It'll be two years before it's finished."

David Berg, broker for Prudential Americana Group, said on July 14 that new financing would be in place within a week and liens placed against the property by subcontractors who hadn't been paid would be released at that time. Ledcor Construction is general contractor for the job.

Developer Rod Yanke of Tower Homes is scrambling to get financing for the project. He paid $8.5 million for the 15-acre site near the Las Vegas Beltway and Buffalo Drive. He said the project was being financed by hedge funds from New York investors.

A spokesman for the developer said Friday they're about to close on a $320 million construction loan, though he would not divulge the name of the lending company.

When construction on the first of three 18-story towers began last year, Yanke gave a completion date of this summer. In January, he moved the date forward to spring 2007. Plans call for 444 luxury condo units ranging from 1,800 square feet to 9,500 square feet. Prices started in the $800,000s.

David Pourbaba, developer of Sky Las Vegas on the Strip, said the market loses credibility when projects run into trouble.

"One thing about people that start construction, and this is the old trick in the book, some of these guys start construction with their own money, but they don't do much. They just start some work toward this and that so they can get more buyers in because most of the banks ask for a particular percentage of presold units before they release funds," Pourbaba said. "If you need 60 percent and you're only at 48 percent, you take the chance of starting and hoping you get the other 12 percent right away. It happens sometimes and it can backfire as it has in other cases where lawsuits are filed, mechanics liens and this and that."

From a market perspective, it's never a good thing to see a project fail, especially if a significant number of units are in "hard contract," which means deposits become nonrefundable, said Mandy Shavinksy, an attorney with Snell & Wilmer in Las Vegas.

"I think what we're seeing now is a shakeout between experienced developers that have built relationships over the years and less experienced developers," she said. "It sounds like they got short-term funding done at a certain time and those loans come due in a relatively short time frame."

One of the first things a buyer should find in their purchase contract is the delivery date promised by the developer, an outside time frame beyond which they would be entitled to get their money back, Shavinsky said.

From a developer's perspective, they should draft a purchase agreement with their lawyer to determine all of the possibilities, including the project not being delivered as planned, she said.

Some buyers have filed lawsuits trying to force the developer to build the project. Shavinsky said she doesn't know what Nevada courts will do in those cases, but she doubts they can force a developer with limited funds to build something at a gigantic loss.