Developer pushing forward

John Ritter keeps it simple and real in his struggle to survive the worst downturn in Las Vegas history. It's all part of the cycle.

His real estate development company, Focus Property Group, is under fire from all sides.

Residents of Focus' master-planned Mountain's Edge community have complained they're not getting the parks and amenities promised at the 5,000-acre development in the southwestern Las Vegas Valley.

Home building slowed to a crawl at two other communities -- Providence in northwestern Las Vegas and Inspirada in Henderson.

Ritter's biggest challenge this year is fighting off a lawsuit by Wachovia Bank, lead lender on a $565 million loan to purchase and develop 1,700 acres near Kyle Canyon. Wachovia foreclosed on Kyle Acquisition Group's fee title to the property in September by nonjudicial foreclosure, or trustee sale.

Wachovia alleges that Focus has made little or no improvements to the Kyle Canyon land, which is zoned for 16,000 residential lots and a 150-acre park. Kyle Acquisition Group is obligated to pay for mass grading of the site and construction of backbone infrastructure for development, a cost estimated at $358 million.

Focus, the ninth-largest taxpayer in Clark County with $1.7 billion in appraised property value, restructured its debt after defaulting on loans from banks and hard-money lenders, or private investors, in February. Those lenders include Clayton Mortgage, Goldwater Capital and Builder's Capital.

Ritter said he's been able to cover property tax liabilities and remains committed to finish both Mountain's Edge and Providence. He's talking with city and county officials to get those projects done.

Las Vegas still has a limited supply of land, Ritter said. Not many land deals are getting done and those few deals are at a discount, he said.

"There's money on the sidelines, but it ain't jumping in," Ritter said. "Nobody wants to catch the falling knife. People who did jump in, their stuff went down in value, so now they're gun-shy."