Group purchased five condo projects in 2013

For the past two years, KRE Capital LLC has been working in partnership with Dune Real Estate Partners to restore the condominium lifestyle in Las Vegas.

The duo purchased Spanish Palms, Juhl, The Ogden, One Las Vegas and Loft5 as one portfolio in Dec. 2013.

Since then, three of those properties, Spanish Palms, The Ogden and One Las Vegas, have made the transition from rental properties to condominium sales.

"We saw that the Las Vegas market was ripe to return and we also saw that there was a pent-up demand for this kind of product in Las Vegas," KRE Capital LLC Partner Uri Vaknin said. "We saw writing on the wall and knew that Las Vegas suffered some of the greatest losses of home values during the recession and this is what we do nationwide; look to add value to undervalued properties."

The Juhl, downtown on Bonneville Avenue, remains a rental property, Vaknin said, because it has performed well as a rental. He said the focus has been to activate retail on the building's ground floor before eventually selling the units at some point in the future.

"Our focus has been on getting the right mix of retail for the ground floor for Juhl in order to activate the streetscape," he said.

Classic Jewel cocktail lounge, Le Pho Vietnamese restaurant and the Greens and Proteins health food café, as well as a furniture store and audio visual boutique are open on the ground level of the Juhl.

"We want to offer them as amenities for the residents and for downtown as a whole," Vaknin said. "We're aiming to connect the core district of downtown to Fremont, East Fremont and the Arts District to create a continuous shopping and dining experience throughout downtown and it makes the most sense to keep (Juhl) as a rental until we accomplish that."

Spanish Palms at 5250 S. Rainbow Blvd. was originally an apartment community that was converted into condos in 2006 before being reverted back to apartments during the recession, Vaknin said.

In May, units at the Spanish Palms transitioned into condominium sales. The one-bedroom, one-bath units at the Spanish Palms start at $120,000, two-bedroom, two-bath units start at $160,000 and the three-bedroom, two-bath units from $180,000.

The same happened at downtown at The Ogden at 150 N. Las Vegas Blvd. as previous rental units are now being sold. One-bedroom homes start in the low $200,000s, while two-bedroom homes start in the mid-$300,000's and increase into the $500,000s for three bedroom homes.

Vaknin said in order to successfully market each property, making substantial upgrades to the properties and adding amenities was crucial.

"We wanted to upgrade each property, whether it be design, amenities or finishes, we wanted to make them look up-to-date and fresh in order to appeal to what the condo buyer wants today," Vaknin said. "With each property we executed a thoughtful and strategic approach to bring it back to the market for sales."

To do that, Vaknin said the fitness center at Spanish Palms has been doubled in size and a conference room, business center, dog park and playground have been added.

At The Ogden, the lobby was upgraded as was the rooftop area, which now includes an outdoor kitchen, landscaping, tables and lounge chairs.

"We wanted to keep the funkiness of downtown but add regal touches," Vaknin said of The Ogden. "We're doing these things to add value."

According to Vaknin, more than $2 million has been spent on property enhancements and interior upgrades at One Las Vegas at 8255 S. Las Vegas Blvd.

"We're in the midst of a very intense property enhancement project there," he said. "It's actively selling and we're doing extremely well."

Loft5 on West Pebble Road has yet to be brought to market, Vaknin said.

"It's 97 percent occupied so we haven't figured out what to do yet because it's working well as a rental property," he said. "We're not just going to dump product on the market just to sell it; we're going to organically bring each one to market as leases expire. It will be a several year process."

Vaknin said though the company's attention remains on these five properties, he's still actively seeking new opportunities.

"We're always looking to add value to properties," he said. "However, we own more than 80 percent of the Las Vegas condo market and that's a big enough task on our plate so that's what we're focused on."

Contact reporter Ann Friedman at afriedman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4588. Follow @AnnFriedmanRJ on Twitter.