Timeshare-like project planned by Peccole

Thursday, Dec. 14, 2000 | 10:56 a.m.

Peccole Nevada Corp. has dissociated itself from a Canadian company on a luxury condominium project and is now focusing on high-end "fractional" units similar to timeshares.

Kirk Park, a spokesman for Peccole Nevada, said the company is gearing to develop a 300-unit resort on the northeast corner of the company's Queensridge property near the Badlands Golf Club in western Las Vegas near Summerlin.

"It's a completely different project," Park said of the as yet unnamed development. "It's actually a separate building on a different piece of dirt, adjacent to where the luxury condominiums were planned."

The luxury condo development, known as the Versailles project, isn't dead, Park said. But the three planned 12-story towers on 14.5 acres won't have the original development team building it.

Park said Peccole has severed its relationship with Taurus Development, a Toronto-based high-end residential developer.

"Taurus has absolutely nothing to do with our current project," Park said. He declined comment on what led to the change.

Representatives of Taurus, including president Gilles Pageau, could not be reached for comment.

When the Versailles project was unveiled in March 1998, it was billed as a west side alternative to the Park Towers at Hughes Center and Turnberry Estates, luxury condo projects near the Las Vegas Strip. Developers planned units ranging from 3,000 to 13,000 square feet with prices ranging from $1.1 million to $7.7 million. The 10 different floor plans were to offer terraces, dens, direct-access elevators and other amenities.

The new fractional ownership development, Park said, will include townhomes of 1,600, 3,200 and 4,800 square feet.

"We're trying to create a new residential development for snowbirds or golfers who like to spend more than just a few weeks here," Park explained. "This is a residence, not a hotel or a timeshare development."

Park said the project is the first high-end fractional development in Las Vegas, although the concept has been sold in other resort areas -- western Wyoming, at the Grand Tetons, Vail and Aspen, Colo., and Scottsdale, Ariz. Park said the companies that operate the Ritz Carlton and Four Season hotel operations have successfully marketed high-end fractional programs.

The concept also is popular in the financing of corporate aircraft.

The price of the units has not been determined and Park said the company would announce other details, including how to reserve a unit, at a later date.

The first phase of development is expected to open next fall.

Tom Jones, an associate professor at UNLV's College of Hotel Administration and an expert in the timeshare industry, said high-end fractional ownership is a very small segment of the vacation industry market.

"It's definitely the highest of the high-end markets, for people in the mid-six-figure income level," Jones said. "It's for people that want that luxury lodge in Vail, but don't want to spend $3 (million) or $4 million for a second home that you would only use a few days out of the year."

Jones said there is a market of "fractional jet-setters" that have luxury property all over the world.

The amenities of high-end fractional rival the opulence that is available in best luxury suites on the Las Vegas Strip, Jones said.

"There's a nice property up in Aspen that are selling (one)-twelfths of the development for $350,000. That way, owners can spend a month living there," Jones said. "They come with their own butler, so they can't be that bad."

Peccole Nevada Corp. was founded in 1949 and has developed the Canyon Gate Country Club, Peccole Ranch, Queensridge and Queensridge North.