INVESTORS GROUP TAKES A VILLAGE
A California investment firm purchased the 51,000-square-foot MonteLago Village at Lake Las Vegas Resort for more than $23 million, a company executive said Monday.
Steve Ruthenbeck, sales and acquisitions director for Roseville, Calif.-based Pacific Capital Investments, said the company is excited to become part of the golf-oriented resort destination in east Henderson.
"It's 180 (degrees) from the Strip," he said. "That's one of the things we love down there. It's a much more peaceful environment, a completely different experience."
The boutique retail village is part of Intrawest Corp.'s $500 million development at Lake Las Vegas that includes the Viera and Luna di Lusso condo-hotels, MonteLago Casino and the first Ritz-Carlton hotel in Nevada.
Retailers got off to a slow start with only a smattering of business from Lake Las Vegas residents, many of whom are second-home owners, and locals willing to trek 30 miles for an evening of upscale dining and shopping.
"When this was initially built in 2003, you didn't have a lot of the single-family homes that you've got out there now," Ruthenbeck said. "I think some tenants had a hard time at the beginning because there were not enough rooftops and only one hotel (Hyatt Regency)."
He said Intrawest did excellent work on MonteLago and his company didn't look at capitalization rates or return on investment as much as a long-term hold on the property. Pacific Capital looks forward to working with other groups in the development and operation of the resort, he said.
"We were excited to see such unprecedented interest in this one-of-a-kind property," CB Richard Ellis broker Christina Roush said. "Ultimately it was the unique Lake Las Vegas location and the proximity to the Ritz-Carlton and Loews resort hotels that peaked such high interest for the asset and helped push the value above the asking price."
The 12-building retail destination sits on about 5 acres in a resort setting designed as an old-world Italian village with cobblestone pathways, Mediterranean landscaping and yacht mooring.
It's 93 percent leased. Tenants include Como's Steakhouse, The Auld Dubliner, Starbucks, Luna Rossa, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Bistro Zinc and Sunset & Vines.
A fire at Bistro Zinc caused $200,000 damage Saturday night and cancelled a concert by Three Dog Night. Ruthenbeck said he didn't know whose insurance company is liable for the damage.
The $7 billion Lake Las Vegas resort, developed by Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Transcontinental Properties, was recognized as one of 10 "significant new projects that will define urban life in the 21st century" at the 2004 Architecture and Design Exhibition in Glasgow, Scotland.
Douglas Ogilvy, southwest regional vice president for Intrawest when MonteLago Village opened, said it would take a while to get the word out and build up traffic.
"It's growing. It's continuing to build. You've got to remember, we're not down on the Strip with thousands of people walking by your front door every day," he told the Review-Journal.
