Construction now set for Lake Las Vegas centerpiece

David Strow

Wednesday, April 11, 2001 | 11:03 a.m.

Currently, the view outside the new Lake Las Vegas welcome center is of barren desert overlooking the southern finger of a 320-acre desert lake.

But within 18 months, the owners of this Henderson resort say this land will be home to MonteLago Village, a $500 million retail, office and residential development anchored by hotelier Ritz-Carlton. Construction on the project is set to begin within weeks and could be complete as early as September 2002.

The Italian-themed village, which will be developed by Intrawest Corp. of Vancouver, is meant to be the cornerstone of the massive plans for Lake Las Vegas, which, if all goes according to plan, could span 2,600 acres and cost as much as $5 billion. The developer is Transcontinental Properties of Santa Barbara, Calif.

"(MonteLago Village) really sets the overall tone, the statement of quality of what the overall resort will be -- a true destination resort," said Bradley Nelson, chief operating officer of Lake Las Vegas. "It will bring in some clientele that haven't been here (to Las Vegas) before. This is the big reason many residents wanted to live out here."

Currently, the resort consists of several hundred homes on the south shore of the lake, two golf courses and the 496-room Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas, opened in January 2000 at a cost of $150 million.

The village's 40,000-square-foot European-style casino -- about four times larger than the one operated at the Hyatt Regency -- will be separate from the Ritz-Carlton, connected to it by several pedestrian bridges. Talks are progressing with a potential manager of the casino, though Nelson declined to identify the party.

The hotel and casino will anchor a village consisting of a 30,000-square-foot spa, specialty retail shops, office space and 170 condominiums. Later phases of development call for the addition of more retail and office space and up to 800 additional condos.

Lake Las Vegas' third golf course, designed by golf pro Tom Weiskopf, is also being built as part of the new development. Guests at the Ritz-Carlton will have priority at the course, which is scheduled to open shortly before the village.

The target market of the new village and its hotel, Nelson said, is the upper-end leisure traveler who frequents golf and leisure resorts in cities like Scottsdale, Ariz., and Palm Springs, Calif.

It's a market quite similar to that targeted by the Regent Las Vegas when the Summerlin resort opened its doors in the summer of 1999. But the Regent had difficulty luring customers from the Strip, and the Regent is now pitching itself aggressively to locals while the property is shopped in bankruptcy court.

Nelson believes that won't happen at Lake Las Vegas, located 17 miles southeast of the Strip, because of the wide spectrum of offerings. The village, he said, will give the Lake Las Vegas offering "broad market appeal," backed by the marketing power of Hyatt and Ritz-Carlton.

"When they find out what our experience is, they'll travel out to see us," Nelson said. "Everything here has been created for the resort. We're a true resort community."

And gaming, while important to the concept, isn't the central focus, he said.

"Gaming is important to us, because it's another component of recreation at this resort," Nelson said. "But it is not near the significance (it would have) at a major Strip hotel."

That's true at the Hyatt Regency, where gaming "is not our main thrust by any means," said Robert Purdy, the Hyatt's director of sales and marketing.

"Certainly we could be doing better at the casino," Purdy said. "But as the entire development continues, I see the casino continuing to improve its business as well."

Purdy said the Hyatt has been averaging just below 80 percent occupancy so far this year, with about 70 percent of the business coming from conventions. The opening of the village should help boost those numbers, he believes, as will publicity stemming from the July release of "America's Sweethearts," a movie filmed largely at the hotel-casino.

"I look at it (the Ritz-Carlton) as bringing additional marketing dollars to Lake Las Vegas," Purdy said. "We have outstanding function space at the Hyatt, but I don't have a great alternative for overflow business. When I book a convention larger than 496 rooms, my overflow is the Strip or Sunset Station or the Reserve, which may not exactly be what that meeting planner is looking for."

With the opening of the village, development at the resort will shift form the south to the north banks of Lake Las Vegas, as the first home sales on the north side are expected to begin closing within several weeks. Currently, about 80 percent of the south shore's residential land parcels have been sold.

Transcontinental will also continue pursuing other hoteliers for future hotel-casinos, as the resort is zoned for as many as 2,500 additional hotel rooms on top of the 850 that will be operated by the Hyatt and Ritz-Carlton, Nelson said.