Mayor Oscar Goodman long has pushed and prodded downtown developers to hurry up with their plans for high-rise condominiums. Now he's taking out the whip.

Last week, the Las Vegas City Council gave a pair of developers two weeks to show they've made progress toward starting construction on their approved plans. Otherwise, Goodman said he wants to take approvals for the projects away.

Frustrated with only a handful of projects under construction, Goodman wants to discourage those who bought land downtown, got approval for a project, and then turned around and sold it for a large profit.

The process is known as flipping.

Since August, the city has been giving developers one year to show progress on their projects before they come up for review, instead of the usual two years.

Goodman has said he would ask tough questions and, if he was not satisfied by the progress, would revoke the entitlements that come with project approval.

Wednesday's council meeting was the start of that.

"I'm very concerned that the city was being played for a fool by developers coming to us, asking for entitlements ... with no expectation of building those plans," Goodman said.

"I don't want to be all hard-nosed about this, but I want to know what has been done in a year that would make us want to extend it even further."

But the two developers complained that the Las Vegas high-rise market has gone soft, with investors scared off by high labor costs and construction material shortages.

"I can only tell you the development climate all over the valley is not good right now. Construction prices are driving property values down. Investors are scared to come here," Leanord Mussina, spokesman for Club Renaissance, told the City Council on Wednesday.

"You've got to be very, very patient in this market."

Mussina told the City Council that he could build a high-rise for 30 percent less in New York City than in Las Vegas and said subcontractors were paid more here than anywhere else.

Club Renaissance is a 60-story, 950-unit project at Casino Center Boulevard and Bonneville Avenue.

Like dozens of other projects, the lot has sat vacant and untouched while only a handful of projects are under construction.

Only one, SoHo Lofts, is completed.

Three "guinea pigs," as Goodman called them, sought a one-year extension on their site plans at Wednesday's council meeting.

The first was Urban Lofts, a 71-unit project at 1980 Fremont St.

Questioned by Goodman, the representative of Urban Lofts said the city was preparing final permits for construction to begin.

The council gave the project another year of life.

The other two test cases didn't leave as easily.

Mussina, the spokesman for Club Renaissance, was next.

"We're just a victim of construction costs. Financing has dried up to a large extent for Las Vegas. We're redesigning, trying to value engineer, to do something affordable," Mussina said.

"Certainly the project you've shown us is off the board?" Goodman said.

"No," Mussina said. "We're in negotiations with some large construction companies to joint venture at this point, because that's the only way to finance it."

Goodman asked how much time they needed.

"I don't know. A year?" Mussina said.

"I'm not interested in a year. I've been to three groundbreakings there so far and haven't seen ground broke," Goodman said.

Mussina said Club Renaissance has spent $8 million or $9 million on the project so far.

Goodman proposed to give them a 60-day leash to get an investor.

Councilman Larry Brown then spoke up, saying he was uncomfortable cutting off projects after one year if progress was being made.

"I understand what you'd like to see accomplished as far as the speculation, and the entitlements someone sits on for two years and doesn't do anything," Brown told Goodman. "But I'm trying to balance that with the fact that these are privately held properties and the markets sometimes impact projects as much as anything."

Goodman relented and said, "Maybe I'm in too much of a hurry. It may be my problem."

The council decided to give the developers of Club Renaissance two weeks, during which time they'd have to privately show council members what they worked on.

Sandhurst Development, planning a 35-story, 413-unit condominium tower at Iron Horse Court near Grand Central Parkway, got the same two weeks, but only after a tongue-lashing by Goodman.

"The last word I got was saying it was dead. I want to give you a good burial," Goodman told Joseph Manzella, of Sandhurst Development and Jeff Theobald of Taurus, which owns the property.

Sandhurst lost the land in 2005 and had to give it back to Taurus after investors pulled out.

"We're talking with investors right now. We're working hard for the building," Manzella said.

"It's all about the financing, Mr. Mayor. ... If we don't get an extension on the site plan, it will only hurt our chances of landing an investor."

Afterward, Manzella said he thought the extension was "just a formality."

He said Sandhurst has spent $12 million on the project so far, and to get new plans approved would take six months.

"Investors would not talk to us without entitlements," Manzella said.

If the plans are not renewed, he said, Sandhurst would pull out, leaving Taurus to sell the land or find another developer.