A marketing official says many of the people who bought units like this one in the now-open first tower of the Panorama Towers luxury condominium project are opting to keep them, not sell them. Photo by John Gurzinski.

As president of sales and marketing for Panorama Towers, Tony Preus contacted all the owners of 320 units in the first 30-story luxury condo tower that opened in December on Dean Martin Drive to see if they were interested in a resale program.

Those who bought early -- the first two towers sold out within six weeks -- paid as little as $250 a square foot for units that are now averaging $600 a square foot, Preus said. He personally bought a 1,700-square-foot unit on the eighth floor at $326 a square foot and sold it at $575.

"I wrote a $5,000 (reservation) check and ... moaned the whole time," he said. "Nobody knew what it would be."

Now that the first tower is open, only 13 owners have put their units back on the market. Preus said they realized how much they liked the project.

"I thought I'd get every person to say 'yes.' I thought that they were all investors," he said. "I found that people came here and liked it."

Some may not want to sell because of the 15 percent capital gains tax, he added. From March to July last year, he resold 61 units.

Developed by Laurence Hallier, who sold his taxicab advertising company to go into high-rise development, Panorama's 326-unit second tower is scheduled to open in the summer and a third tower, Panorama North, is under construction with nearly 400 units on the north side of Harmon Avenue. A fourth tower is planned on the south.

M.J. Dean was the general contractor for the first two towers, estimated at $300 million for construction. Taylor International is building the third tower. Klai Juba is the architect.

Dennis Smith of Home Builders Research said there were 61 high-rise and midrise closings in January priced at less than $300,000 and Panorama had many of them. The median price for 442 midrise and high-rise closings during the month was $504,000, he said.

There are three basic reasons why people buy high-rises, Preus said: view, proximity and price.

"As we know, things have changed over the last few years. Construction is no longer $200 to $300 a square foot, it's $500 a square foot," he said.

Preus said Panorama, like many other high-rise projects in Las Vegas, was delayed by permits, particularly last-hour work on Dean Martin Drive.

"The greatest thing that happened to us is the construction of the Harmon Avenue overpass. We have the luxury of being near the Strip but not the hassle of being on the Strip," Preus said. "The second thing is the CityCenter development. Our neighbor has added enormous value to this property."

BOYD OFFICES: Crisci Builders of Las Vegas has been contracted by Crescent Partners to build out the 21,462-square-foot executive offices of Boyd Gaming Corp. at 3883 Howard Hughes Parkway, Suite 900. The tenant improvement project is estimated at $1.8 million. Paul Auzenne is project manager for Crisci.