Blighted condo complex south of Strip has new owner, slated for new housing

After years of fires and squatters, a rundown Las Vegas condo complex is under new ownership and slated to be torn down for new housing.

New York investment firm Kennedy Lewis acquired the now-shuttered Paradise Spa complex at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Serene Avenue, several miles south of the Strip, for $30 million, according to property records and court filings.

The sale was approved through court proceedings and closed last month, after Clark County commissioners approved plans by Arizona-based Taylor Morrison Home Corp. to build 275 homes on the 28-acre site.

Built during Las Vegas’ Rat Pack days, Paradise Spa was once a scenic property but has been blighted for years, and its redevelopment would bring a wave of new homes to a site with a turbulent past.

Commissioner Michael Naft, whose district includes the property, said Paradise Spa has a rich history from a past era but fell into “total disrepair.”

He said the complex was a constant aggravation for neighbors, a nuisance site for firefighters, and a problem spot for police.

All told, Naft said that he was “thrilled” with the sale and that he hopes the remaining buildings are demolished for the new project “as quickly as possible.”

Construction plans

Dennis Snapp, president of the Paradise Spa Owners’ Association, also said he was happy that the complex will be torn down and redeveloped, given its past financial woes and extensive physical damage.

According to a court filing in summer 2020, bids to rehabilitate the property ranged from $32 million to $55 million — more than what it recently sold for.

“There was no way to save the Spa,” Snapp said.

A spokesperson for Taylor Morrison said that the remaining buildings at Paradise Spa will be demolished over the next four to five months, that home sales will start in 2027, and that the company will acquire lots from Kennedy Lewis as it prepares to build houses on them.

The builder also plans to properly clean the site before it starts construction.

Paradise Spa, 9457 Las Vegas Blvd. South, was built in the 1960s. According to court records, it had 384 units spread across two dozen buildings.

In 1969, classified ads in the Las Vegas Review-Journal touted Paradise Spa’s health club and its mineral baths, tennis courts and exercise classes, along with infrared ultra-violet treatments.

However, the complex eventually became rife with problems.

‘Infested by rats’

According to the summer 2020 court filing, seven buildings at Paradise Spa, comprising nearly 30 percent of all units, had burned in fires.

Three other buildings had also suffered “catastrophic plumbing collapses,” according to the lawsuit by Paradise Spa’s then-largest owner, who sought a sale of the property.

The owner claimed in a court filing in fall 2021 that the complex was “contaminated with asbestos from the floors to the ceilings”; that the entire electrical system needed to be replaced; that roofing and HVAC units were failing when not “missing altogether”; that many units had been ransacked; and that the property became “infested by rats” because of work on nearby sewers.

Plus, squatters occupied several uninhabitable buildings and had caused fires, including by trying to “hotwire” units for electricity, the landlord alleged.

This past summer, a separate lawsuit claimed the property had seven more fires between September 2024 and March 2025.

In two separate fires in November 2024 alone, the Review-Journal reported that one person was dead after each blaze.

This past January, after yet another fire at Paradise Spa, the American Red Cross of Southern Nevada said it helped 29 people displaced by that blaze.

‘A warm spot in my heart’

Taylor Morrison, which has several active project sites in Southern Nevada, landed court approval last year as the highest, qualified bidder to purchase Paradise Spa.

The homebuilder then obtained court approval this year to assign the purchase agreement to Kennedy Lewis, after it stated the firm would function as its land-bank investor, records show.

In general, such investors acquire land for homebuilders and then sell them plots when they’re ready for construction.

District Judge Maria Gall approved the land-banking arrangement on Aug. 13. A week later, Clark County commissioners approved Taylor Morrison’s redevelopment project.

Plans call for a mix of townhomes and freestanding houses, as well as trails, a pickleball court, interactive art, and picnic areas, according to county staff reports.

Snapp, the HOA president, said he never lived in Paradise Spa but owned some units. He estimated that about 20 homeless people would stay at Paradise Spa at any given time over the past decade.

He also said that most individual owners had trouble paying their mortgage and that more than $3 million in overdue HOA payments had piled up.

Still, as he described it, the property was a beautiful and thriving community before it spiraled down.

“I will always have a warm spot in my heart for the Paradise Spa,” he said.

Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.