Bank-owned purchases return to marketplace
Commercial real estate brokers are starting to see cash investors buying bank-owned land in Las Vegas, though total transactions are 10 percent to 15 percent of what they were five or six years ago, Michael Stuart of Colliers International said Friday.
New York-based Lightstone Group recently closed on 23.5 acres in southwest Las Vegas Valley for $4.4 million, or $187,234 an acre, said Stuart, who represented City National Bank in the sale.
The land near the Beltway and Hacienda Avenue was originally purchased for more than $30 million in 2007, Stuart said. It's zoned for a mixture of commercial and residential uses and will most likely be developed as an apartment complex, he said.
"Right now they're not doing anything with it, just waiting for the market to return," the broker said.
Founded by David Lichtenstein in 1988, Lightstone Group has grown into one of the nation's largest private owners of real estate, completing $2 billion in acquisitions in the last year.
The company's portfolio includes more than 20,000 apartment units and 30 million square-feet of commercial and retail space.
Las Vegas-based Sunbelt Development and Realty Partners reported $9.1 million in land sales in March, compared with $7 million in the same month a year ago. Commercial land sales surpassed all other land use categories in the first quarter.
Average price per acre in the first quarter was $305,388 for commercial land and $108,501 for residential, Sunbelt reported.
"The thing that's staggering for me is we were doing 1,300 transactions a year and now we're doing 150," Stuart said. Sales volume dropped from about $4 billion a year to $400 million to $500 million, he said.
Jeremy Green, first vice president of CB Richard Ellis brokerage in Las Vegas, said he's seeing a pick-up in land sales for specialty uses.
"People are attracted to Las Vegas again because of low-priced land in ideal locations like the Southern Beltway," Green said. Industrial land is going for about $5 a square foot in the south valley and $4 a foot in the north, he said.
Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.
